Thursday, February 11, 2010

What were we thinking?

Meet Kevin. Kevin - like me - is old. But as the sign says . . . we are men.

Kevin has been my swim coach for about 3 years now, he has the patience of Job. Without Kevin I'd be a clueless, fitness swimmer, thrashing back and forth across the pool like a badly choreographed fall down a flight of stairs. With Kevin's help, I'm slowly starting to resemble a swimmer.

I swam competitively as a kid until I got totally burned out. I swam a bit when I was 20 so, to get in shape for some triathlons. Then I took 25 years off to do some other stuff.

Kevin swam all the way through high school and college. He quit swimming and started coaching. But hadn't swam a workout since 1983. He started getting back in shape a couple months ago.

Kevin and I are doing something pretty silly . . . we're entering a swim meet. In a pool. With other swimmers. LOTS of other swimmers. And people watching. I have raced a few open water events over the last few years where you run into a lake like a crazed lunatic and swim as fast as you can around a course dotted with buoys, surrounded by hundreds of other swimmers all vying for the same space in the water. But no "official" pool races.

I'm pretty nervous, and pretty excited as well.

Kevin isn't nervous. He's way too cool for that nonsense.

The meet is in Loveland next week. It's the first of a few I have planned IF I manage not to make a complete @$$ of myself.

Wish us luck, we're gonna need it.



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