Just Keep Swimming...swimming...swimming

OUCH!!!

To say that I am supremely out of shape when it comes to swimming is an understatement. It has been nearly 18 years since I last swam for any length of time at a high level. Any swimming that I have done since my senior year of High School back in 1991 has been for incredibly short distances (like backyard size pool distances).

Taylor has been swimming on the local swim team for a few weeks now and seems to really enjoy it. He has his goggles, swim cap, suit, and fins and looks very much the swimmer in the water. He has a good movement through the pool. Needless to say Jen and my old swim coach, Dee Loose, convinced me to swim some laps while Taylor is at his team workout. Today was the first day of my 3 day a week swim habit.

I donned my speedo, my swim shirt (no one wants to see me topless), my board shorts (hell no, no one wants to really see me in a speedo), strapped on my goggles and dove in. I had a nice smooth stroke and thought to myself, "This ain't so bad!" And then it got bad. About half-way through a length of the pool I started to tighten and ache. I made it the full 50 yards, rested a minute, and then went again. After the second 50 yards I realized that if I was going to make it for any length of time I needed to use my swim fins. Once I got those on I was moving through the water much better, and was really pushing it from a workout standpoint.

Was I the swimmer that I once was? HELL NO!!! That swimmer is buried somewhere under layers of accumulated fat and may one day make an appearance. Today I was only able to swim 10-12 50's on the 2 minutes. I am a far cry from what I once was. But in time, and with lots and lots of work perhaps one day I will be able to pull off the fins and swim more than 2 lengths of the pool without feeling like my head was going to explode with each beat of my heart!

Perhaps one of my brothers will take pity on my and get me a waterproof mp3 player. Hahahaha.