850 m

Today I joined at a group at our local pool for "master's swimming". I was misled into thinking that we were a group of non- swimmers, but I was clearly out if my league! Having said that, I was there to improve my swimming, and after nearly 30 years, thanks to some teaching from my mermaid daughter and the assistant manager coach, I managed to swim 50 m ( 2 lengths) of "freestyle" ( not nearly as fun as it sounds, but actually what I consider front crawl).

This was our fourth trip to the pool today. It started with my daughter's first swimming lesson of the summer. She came out and we volunteered at the cantine, until she suggested minutes before my aquafit class that she wanted a grill cheese sandwich, so we walked home (less than two blocks) and rushed back for our second visit to the pool for an excellent aquafit class.

Four hours later, we were back for a third time at free swim, and it was then my daughter gave me a very important lesson on how to breath without raising my head out of the water, which was life saving when it came time for the master's swim.

My last swimming lesson of childhood was an indoor class at the only pool I knew of at the time; Regina's Lawson Pool. I recall attempting to do the front crawl with a breath every third stroke, and I felt like I was going to pass out. Fast forward almost three decades, under the careful watch of my daughter, I practiced, with some trepidation, I attempted a modified freestyle with breaths every two strokes. It was going well on the way out to the deep end, but I had a few difficult breaths on the way back, finding myself fighting against the current that pushed me against the lane markers. I had to crawl to the end, head above water, causing my lane mate to run into my feet!

It was difficult with multiple rests to regain my breath, but the last 100m was as smooth as any before, and I was able to return to the much simpler rhythm of 1:3 breaths:stroke. I am pretty amazed that it finally came together! And for the first time in my life, I swam a length that I actually measured! Maybe I can do a mini-triathlon afterall!