Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming

Growing up I never considered myself a swimmer. I'd go with my babysitter and her kids to their pool in the summer and would splash around a bit (wearing 50+ SPF and sometimes even a t-shirt if she thought I was looking paler than usual that day) but her kids were actually swimmers, not just splashers. I took lessons at the YMCA when I was little but never managed to get past the part where your head had to be under the water without your hand plugging your nose. After that I saw no reason to further my swimming education; I could float, I could swim to safety, I could tread water. That was enough for me.

Flash forward several years when I saw a sign advertising a women-only triathlon at my gym. Though I hate to admit it now, one of the main reasons that I went for it is because I'd recently been through a break-up and needed something to focus on. And somehow running, biking, and swimming seemed like the perfect thing! I'd grown up going on long-distance bike trips with my dad and had run the Boston Marathon the year before, so I figured that I had both of those aspects more or less down (though obviously they could be improved upon). It was the swimming that made me nervous.

When I got a summer membership to a local pool and started "swimming" laps, I realized that I really couldn't do it. I would swim one length of the pool and be out of breath. I looked around at the other people gliding effortlessly through the water and knew that there must be some trick to it. So I put a posting on craigslist that I was looking for someone who belonged to that pool and had experience teaching adults. Amazingly, the person who responded was my age, had taught swimming classes to adults in college, and lived right near by. Perfect! I've talked to a number of triathletes who did not start out swimmers and many have had "Ah ha" moments in their swimming where all of a sudden it seems... not easy, but manageable - and something to be improved upon rather than something so frustrating that giving up seemed the only option. Jami helped me get to my ah ha moment and for that I am forever grateful. Of course being comfortable in a pool and being comfortable in a big scary lake or ocean are very different, but that's another story for another time.

Now that I'm comfortable swimming laps in a pool I get so much out of it - not only do I train for races and tone my muscles and get a good workout - I do other things like analyze my dreams, make plans, contemplate life goals. All those things that you could do while running or biking but are somehow much easier when you're in your own underwater world and you don't have to worry about clipping out of your pedals at a stoplight or tripping over a small dog on the street.

 My brother Erik, me, and my Dad before the swim start of my very first triathlon

My wave ready to jump into the lake in Webster, MA during the 2007 Danskin Women's Tri (you can't see me in this picture because I had heard that if you don't want to get kicked in the head you should stay towards the back of your swim wave!)