once a cheater, always a cheater?

it's not you, it's me. i don't mean to hurt your feelings. it's not intentional. but i'm sure you won't even miss me.

I hinted in my last post about something I stumbled upon and am contemplating. Maybe I'll share my dirty little secret with you now, even though I've yet to check it out or make a decision.

My son takes swimming lessons on Sunday evenings at a pool that's about 2 minutes from my house. Literally. Since starting this session, I've noticed a group of adults going into the pool after he's done... never thought to ask what they were part of. Sitting in the gallery on the upper floor overlooking the pool, I saw the swimmers streaming in, milling around. My eyes connected with someone else's, vaguely familiar, but with a swimcap and a bathing suit, I can never be too sure. Her expression sorta showed that I might be familiar to her too...but being in street clothes, without my bike helmet, a wetsuit or my running clothes, she may have been trying to place me too.

That's when I decided to ask what group they were. I was told Master Ducks, but as I was leaving, I noticed a sign advertising the swim group, the swim times matched up, and a website address; they were not the Master Ducks, but a Masters swim team. Once home, I hopped on the site... NO-EFFIN'-WAY!!! This swim club has merged with the local triathlon club (hello! Where were you when I was scouring the internet in June!!) and will be offering a triathlon program in the coming months!

When I started running in 2007, I first started on my own, then got convinced by a friend to join a clinic... he bailed on me the first night. Ugh. I became good friends with the others in the group, and even after the clinic was done, continued running with them, and most recently, traveled with 8 girls for the Nike Women's in SF.

Last June, I found my eyes wandering, my heart yearning for more, and looking for something different... I found the tri-clinic. I was cheating on my running group. They still give me a hard time!! (filled with love of course.) So, the tri-clinic had approximately 40 people, and once again, I've become good friends with a number of them, and still arrange to go for a ride, run, swim or a drink with some. In fact, some of them are in the tri clinic swimming sessions that I'm currently taking on Monday nights, which will be completed at the end of November :(

With the prospect of this new triathlon group and masters swimming (I think I'm going to go join them Sunday night to check it out...), it's not likely that I'd be rejoining last year's tri clinic next season, and my runs with the original running group wouldn't be as frequent either. I'd be cheating again! I totally appreciate the introduction that they gave me to triathlon, they obviously had a huge impact on me since I'm hooked! But this seems like a fantastic opportunity, about 30k closer to home, and with multiple trips each week, it's a lot of time & gas, meaning more time at home with Terron! It's year-round, so I'd be able to maintain my swimming up to 3 times/week if I want, with the possibility of meeting others that live much closer to me to ride/run with. The price is within my budget, and still a lot less than hiring a personal coach.

I talked to Jay about my 'guilty' feeling of cheating on not one, but two groups... he said that I have no allegiance or obligation to fulfil, I need to do what I want, and what makes me happy. Hmmm.

(BTW, no need to go overboard in agreeing with him, it'll only serve to swell his ego should he read this post. LOL)

Those of you in a Master's swim program, thoughts? Good? bad?