In September of 2010, I was looking for a Masters swim club to join and signed up to be on the waiting list for the District of Columbia Recreation and Parks Masters Swim Team. It was so long ago that I forgot all about it until I received an email on June 5th saying that my name had reached the top of the waiting list. I was preparing for EagleMan, so I decided to not start until after the race. I came up with every excuse possible to not go in the 4 weeks after the invitation came. I was nervous. I was scared. I even wrote to the coaches and told them how I was nervous to come out because I am slow and I don't know how to do flip turns and I don't want to slow anyone down... yadda... yadda. Their response? See you at practice.
I went for the first time on Tuesday and I got in the slowest lane with an 81 year old man. I thought that I could at least hang with him. Nope. There was another lady that got in our lane and this old man was literally swimming over us. Eventually, he told us that he was tired of swimming into us, that we were too slow and that he was going to find another lane. An 81 year old man told me that I was too slow. Wow. This was after the coach told me that the warm up was 600 meters. SIX HUNDRED METERS! My longest warm up to date has been 300m. By the time I got to 500 meters, he told me to just stop and he moved me on to the next set/drill. After 1 hour of him modifying the workout for me, I decided that I had enough for one day. The swims are 90 minutes long, but 60 minutes was all I had in me.
As expected, I was slow, I couldn't flip turn and I did slow someone down, but I survived and I went back today. Today was a better day. The coach gave us all drills that most people were unfamiliar with. They still did the drills faster than me, but we were all at the same starting point, which didn't make me feel at that much of a disadvantage to start. I am glad that I joined and I know that this Masters team will make me faster and a more efficient swimmer. I will keep showing up and just keep swimming....
I love your blog. Thank you for sharing this. This is similar to how I feel as I tackle a 400 meter swim. Thanks for your honest recount of your experience and know that you inspire many with your thoughtful words and great accomplishments.
ReplyDeleteGreat post... I'm trying to think of how I would have responded to Ole dude.. LOL..ROFL... Part of me would have wanted to just ignore him and keep swimming than the other part of me would have been thinking about mischievous stuff to say or do (not to get in trouble with the coach or team) but just enough to really annoy dude.. Thanks for sharing.. Stories like this help me keep things in perspective.
ReplyDeleteWait - seriously!?!?!? You got into the Masters program?!?! I have been on that f'ing list for now 3 years and I still haven't gotten called up. But keep at it! You will become a stronger swimmer from it and shove it up the old guy's face.
ReplyDeleteGreat job. Remember just showing up takes lots of courage. You are truly inspirational. Keep it up. You will definitely reap the rewards from all your efforts.
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