Swimming

Finding My Inner Nemo...

If this isn't awe-inspiring, I do not know what is.

Signing up for a triathlon is scary business. Since it's the husband's sport of choice, I've had the occasion to attend a few of these events, and I've seen first hand the anxiety, the fear, and the downright dread that often graces the faces of many first-time participants. However, I've also seen first-hand the look of accomplishment and pride on these same faces as they crossed the finish lines. I've also stood along  Ali'i Drive in Kona at the Ironman World Championships and watched as athlete after athlete crossed that seemingly illusive finish line, in the dark, totally spent and well past the point of total exhaustion while the phrase that made it all worth while rang out above the cheering crowd, "You ARE an Ironman!"

Swimming is scary...like sharks.

I'd been tossing the idea of making my entry into the sport for some time, and I finally took the plunge a few months ago when I signed up for the Irongirl Atlanta this coming May. Never mind the fact that I am not a good swimmer. As in, at all. As in I can MAYBE swim well enough to save my life, but the act of swimming from point A to point B with the intent of being faster than someone else? Yeah. Probably not. My handy-dandy go-to backstroke isn't really going to do the trick. And that isn't even taking into account that the mere idea of donning a swimsuit in itself is enough to make me go into hysterics. But, it's the challenges in life that make us stronger and force us to grow as both athletes and individuals. Learning a new skill (see here: swimming) will, hopefully, force my muscles to do some new things and my brain to start firing in some new places. Therefore, there is no time like the present to tackle something new and, hopefully, stretch and challenge myself in new ways.

Just Keep Swimming!

After a few rather frightful and embarrassing evenings spent trying to fix my rather numerous swimming issues with my husband, we both decided that it would be safer more prudent for me to sign up for some beginning swimming classes at the Y. I'm not going to lie. This horrified me a bit. The only thing I could envision was a group of giggly teenagers pointing and laughing at the old woman in the swim cap and goggles swimming with arm floaties. However, after about a month of procrastinating on my part, time was winding down so I bit the bullet and signed up.

And you know what? I'm glad I did. Even though I've only attended one class so far (thank God I am not the only one in the class!), I can already tell that these few Saturday mornings are going to open up an entirely new world of fitness opportunity for me. After just one lesson I am already more confident in the water and am able to at least do something resembling swimming when I'm in there. It's not pretty....yet. But it will be. Learning these skills as an adult is super tough, and I wish I hadn't quit those lessons when I was younger. However, learning as an adult is giving me a completely different perspective on how difficult learning new things...anything...can be when it's not something that comes naturally to you. As I was out on my run last evening, I found myself thinking about this as I passed runners along the trail who were obviously tackling running in the same fashion I'm tackling swimming, and I gave everyone I passed a quiet "thumbs-up" in camaraderie. With each stride...and each stroke...all of us simply need to, "Just.Keep.Swimming!"