It's All About That Swim!!!

If you have been reading along then you may have noticed that of the three tri sports I really enjoy the swim and amazingly Patrick has started to enjoy the swim.  Like most of my story of triathlon I sort of fell into swimming; well, I was thrown in to it, but we will get to that shortly.  I was not a high school swimmer nor a collegiate swimmer, nope I was a back yard swimmer.  

2014- Patrick's 10K swim

My parents will both tell you that I was born for the water.  I was not a cuddler as a kid (or now) but I love the feeling of water compressing against me, even at a young age.  I don't remember much about my early swimming years, strangely enough those early years I mostly remember things about snow, maybe because I would only have few experiences with the stuff.  What I do recall about my early swimming years was a lake and a dock and my dad.  My father taught me to swim, as a naval submariner my father also found comfort in the water.  Of course also as a Navy man my father believed in the sink of swim method.  He would throw my brother and I off the dock and we were encouraged to swim to shore.  This was the lesson in swimming (and survival).  Sure we breathed a little water but we learned to doggie paddle, to float, and to hold our breath. And yes my father kept a watchful eye on us, as did my mother.  I don't remember being scared; what I remember is making it to shore and running back out the dock to be thrown back in again and again and again.  This would be my first swimming lesson.  

Can't keep me out of the water.

As I got older we moved to Florida, near the Gulf and with a pool in the back yard.  I remember swimming in the frigid March water all the way up till nearly Christmas one year.  My brother and I would claim to not be cold, as our lips turned blue and our fingers numb.  My mother would give us no more option to stay in as our teeth chattered she would force us into warm towels and dry clothes.  However, the next day I was back out there ready to swim.  
Around this time I also started watching the Olympics.  This meant learning how to REALLY swim.  Again my father took to the water to teach me the Freestyle stroke, breast stroke, and butterfly.  My mother also taught me how to side stroke (my mother is actually fearful of the water due to a childhood event).  
Besides the pool there was the Gulf.  As a child the beach was a great adventure (not much has changed).  My father taught me to "jump" waves, dive under waves, and to read the waters for rip currents and wave counts.   I remember watching my father suit up with his navy fins, mask, and snorkel.  He would be gone for what seemed like hours; then there he would appear again and I would run out into the water (much further than my mother wished), swimming to him to see what treasures he had found and to hear what fish were out that day. There was never a fear for me.  Open water was simply a big pool that I shared with wildlife.  
As I went off to college the only place to swim was our college pool.  I spent many nights in the pool swimming laps.  I took a few courses in swimming but given my level of water comfort I often found myself swimming alone with little guidance.  I found the pool was a comfortable place where the rest of the world could not find me or reach me.  I was there just gliding in the water.  
After college it would be a few years before I would come back to the water for swimming purposes.  I still loved the Gulf, which I moved back near, but it was more about playing and floating. 

YOU SCUBA!!!

Patrick and I became scuba certified.  This was my comfort zone, minus the part where I had to flood my goggles then clear them. I love everything about scuba but what I love the most is the water.  I could watch bubbles float up all day long.  Under water the world is different it moves in fluid motions, not forced.  It is quiet there, just the sound of bubbles and fish eating and your own breath.  

2010 Aquathon- Finish

When we got into racing I decided I wanted to do the

2010 Aquathon- Entering the water.

Aquathon, 5K run and 5K swim.  I trained but not well and not in open water.  I had a horrible run.  I was the second to last person into the water.  I heard the safety guy on the walkie say, "I guess we will let her get in, we can pull her along the way if we have to."  The start of the swim was near a retaining wall.  Here I was safe, free from openness.  I passed the wall and got my first look at the bridge.  I nearly turned back, said NOPE NOPE NOPE.  I remember shaking in the water, pulling my head up to breath, gasping for the air.  I looked forward, the other side was so far away.  A support women in a kayak came up to me, the other gentleman was on my heels, she asked if I was ok.  I wasn't but I said I said I was good.  Then I found my comfort zone and I swam.  As I got further away from the guy behind me and started to actually pass others I became more confident.  My new found support buddy went back and forth between me and others, spending less and less time with me (I missed my buddy).  I made it halfway, I was not last.  I realized I loved being here, under the bridge, in the water, gliding. 

2013 25K Swim

This recharged my love for the water, for the swim. 
This part of triathlon is my push point, few of us push in the water.  But I enjoy that part, again the freedom, the pressured hug, the silence.  
While my swimming journey is not glamorous it has been a journey I took feet first.  If you ask me today to go for a run, I will wrinkle my nose but put on my shoes.  If you ask me to go for a swim, I will grab my prepacked swim bag and a suit and I will head to any body of water you pick.