cloud 9

Imagine yourself for a moment looking back at your younger years, having never really been "great" at anything specifically, especially physical. Then as an adult, you're kinda forced to do something to replace something you enjoy. You struggle, but stick with it because the alternatives are limited. Imagine that within a year, you're being assessed, and you get an incredible compliment! So, while I'm still up on cloud 9, let me back up a little...

Just over a year ago, I had my first round of stress fractures. I was told to get in the pool and do some water running as part of recovery.

At the time, the gym to which I belonged had a pool which I had never used, so I went out and bought one of those water belts to help keep me afloat. Got into the pool in the shallow end, waist-deep, strapped on the belt, and walked towards the opposite end of the pool, which was just as shallow! Here I was, a grown adult, in water that I can stand in, wearing what could be used as a floatation device... I felt like such a dork. It came off, and I tried swimming a lap instead.

If I could run a half marathon, surely swimming a few laps in a pool would be a piece of cake. Once again, humbled. It didn't last long, I didn't swim much, couldn't get motivated and even found it a bit boring. The winter months also crept in, and I found it difficult to have to bundle up to leave the house, then later leaving the pool, wet hair, in the cold, dark nights. Once I got the ok to cycle, then eventually run, swimming took a back seat.

Another injury during my marathon attempt in May... I was once again told to swim or cycle. Swimming was still difficult, but 50m turned into 100m, and with the help of some music while in the pool, I actually started to enjoy the laps! Soon after, I found and joined the triathlon clinic, skipping the runs until I got the ok. The group swims got me swimming 800 meters consecutively, open water swimming, and 2 triathlons!

Now that the tri season is done to make room for another Canadian winter, some of the other clinic members had expressed interest in continuing to train, and one had stumbled across a Triathlon Swim Class that was being offered. 10 weeks long, starting Sept 21st. Not sure why I waited until last Thursday to register... especially since my residential address is not in the same "town" where this clinic is offered. While I can still register, I'm at the bottom of the list, so if the session fills up, I'm outta luck. Friday I got a call from the pool letting me know that the session was cancelled, having not received enough participants. Bummer, especially since there was a lot of interest when he were discussing it as a group, but whatever, guess I'd just have to keep up with swimming on my own.

Saturday was my Sprint tri, and on our way home from the race, when we stopped for a much-needed coffee, I got another call informing me to ignore the previous day's call about the session being cancelled, it was back on! YAY!

I got there last night, and thankfully saw a few familiar faces. Had to pick my jaw up off the ground listening to our instructor introduce herself. She's a 7-time Ironman, training for Ironman Cozumel on Nov. 30th, and hoping to get into Ironman Kona next year to celebrate her 50th birthday. Amazing. She's also been teaching swimming since I was 7 years old :)

Once in the pool, she has us warm up, to get an idea of what she's working with, followed by a few drills. As we were getting out of the pool and into the hot tub to finish off the evening, she commented that I was very good swimmer and asked if I had even swam competitively! I'm quite sure I thanked her a billion times, while giving her an extremely abbreviated version of the above.

The smile hasn't left my face, and I've been on cloud 9 since... I guess there really is something to say about perseverance and sticking with something even though it doesn't come easy or it may not be your first choice. While I know I have a lot of room for improvement, it's an amazing boost of confidence!

Tonight will be Terron's turn to be on cloud 9. I was given tickets to tonight's pre-season hockey game of Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Pittsburgh Penguins. Next to his dad, Sidney Crosby is his other hero... so he's pretty excited. I'm looking forward to seeing his face light up... he needs and deserves it.