Saturday, March 8, 2014

a gallon of pool water later...

My fears of having to doggy paddle a mile have officially been squashed - I can swim! I can swim!  Well, maybe not like I should - but better now than when I woke up this morning.  I certainly can no longer tell people that I can't swim (my fun fact is officially destroyed - now what will I use for ice-breaker events?!?). 

It is amazing what you can learn when someone who knows what they are doing can explain what you are doing wrong.  Apparently I was better than I thought (so maybe I could already swim?) - but still have a lot of room for improvement.  

Today practice really focused on breathing - and how to not feel like you are drowning.  I think I swallowed at a minimum one gallon of fresh chlorine water, but by the end of the hour I could really swim!  I just kept wanting to swim more laps because the feeling of actually being able to was so exhilarating.  Although when I actually finally felt like I knew how to swim, it was almost an hour in so I was extremely tired - and pretty much had to take a breather every half lap.  I never thought I would say it, but I am actually excited for the next time I can get in the water.  

But learning to swim wasn't all I did today.  After swimming for an hour, we set out for a three mile run (well, Mark and I did three - the others in the group went for five).  Options were indoor or outdoor and we chose outdoor.  It had just stopped snowing and was about 30 degrees out.  Never thought I would be one of those people who ran on the snowy sidewalks on a cold, windy Chicago day, but now I officially am.  Nothing notable about the run, other than it was cold - but happy I could make it the full three and am looking forward to the day when I can keep up with the full group for the full mileage.

Until next time...


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