On January 4, 2020, the Iceman Triathlon started its first leg with a 1,500-meter open-water swim in Lake Pleasant, just north of Phoenix. The water was a frigid 53 degrees. I wasn’t there to start.

My swimming hadn’t improved enough to go more than 100 yards without being entirely exhausted. But I wasn’t deterred.

I found Total Immersion, a system that made swimming look effortless. I watched the free videos, then paid for an online course. This had to be the answer.

Two months later, I was in New Zealand visiting my kids, and I’d work through the TI drills at the local pool while they were in school.

“Just laps today?” the attendant asks as I hand her my punch card.

“Yeah, just laps,” I say.

On the television behind her, the news is reporting on a virus spreading around the world. Countries are closing borders and locking people inside their homes.

“Any idea if they’re going to close the pools because of this?” I ask.

“I don’t think so,” she says. “My mum works in public health, and she says there’s nothing to worry about.”

Three days later, I’m back at the pool. There’s a yellow sign on the door: due to the outbreak and spread of the coronavirus, the pool will be closed starting Friday, just two days away.

Friday morning, just two days later, I’m on the last American Airlines flight out of New Zealand. I tell my kids I’ll see them in a few months.

At home, I registered for the full Ironman New Zealand. I had a year to learn to swim well enough to finish 2.4 miles.

But in Flagstaff, the pools were closed. The gyms were closed. Everything was closed. People wore masks while running forest trails alone, and while driving their cars, alone. It was time to leave. Pools and gyms in Phoenix were staying open in defiance of government orders.

That sounded perfect.