Swimming again

I took swimming lessons all through my youth. My mom never learned to swim very well. When she was very young her older brother drown in a lake when he about 10 years old. As a result, she enrolled her oldest daughter in swimming lessons year after year for as long as I can remember. I LOVED it! Sometimes I would re-take a class that I had already passed just so I could swim. When I got to Jr. High we were able to join the high school swim team. I swam all through high school and in college as well. After college, it became easier to run than to try and find a pool to swim in so I abandoned my first love.

At 41, my knees and back have taken a beating and although I don't want to say that I will NEVER run again, I do want to be able to walk at 60. So, water, here I come!

Coming back to swimming is like riding a bike; the hardest part is getting in that cold water! Once in though, I go and go and go. Last Wednesday was the first day I decided to actually go a distance to see if I could. I thought, I'll go 40 lengths and see how I feel. Well, I did 40 and felt fine. So, then I thought, I could probably go mile...66 lengths, so I did! I did it again on Saturday and was amazed that I could go a mile and it didn't take me that long. I mean, I like to work out but I don't want to spend 2 hours doing it, I have other things to do. It takes me about a half an hour to do a mile.

Part of the pool is open swim space and while I'm doing laps, the little man is practicing his water skills and getting more comfortable holding his breath under water. The teenager likes to swim as well and has been on the swimming and diving team for the last 2 years. He likes the adventure of diving a bit more than the monotony of swimming laps but joins us anyway and has fun with his brother.

My goal is to swim 2 miles each week for 2 months. I'm not going to stress out over this. I want a goal that I can achieve and I think this is do-able. Wish me luck!!