I'M THE NEW GIRL ON THE BLOCK

Most people don't wake up one morning and say "hey, I think I'll become a triathlete"!  But that's how this craziness started for me.  The idea of doing a triathlon had been swirling around in my head for a while, but I squashed the thought every time I remembered that a triathlon requires three disciplines; Swim, bike, run.  Since I only knew how to do two of the three disciplines (bike and run), I successfully ignored the beckoning call of my inner voice.  That was until I watched the 2013 Ironman Championships in Kona, Hawaii.

I had been an avid runner for 2 years and was in midst of training for my first marathon. Seriously, why can't I just be happy with that??? I mean, running a marathon is a pretty damn awesome! And it's even more awesome when your first marathon includes Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and fireworks.  Considering I was a late bloomer, entering into the world of running at age 43, why should I push it?

I'm one of "those" people who can't leave well enough alone, because here I am.  A month after Ironman Kona 2013, I contacted my local YMCA and asked if they offered swim lessons to terrified-non-swimming-adults. Of course they did! And as luck would have it, they had a 10 week beginner adult swim course starting at the end of November.  I signed both myself and my not-so-happy husband Tom up for swim classes.

We met our instructor Ray, and I realized it would be a small sized class indeed.  There were only three of us; myself, my husband and another girl about 16 years of age.  I told Ray I was terrified to put my face in the water.  I think the young girl was terrified too, but she was even more afraid to tell Ray the truth. He tried to be sympathetic and gave me 10 minutes to get over my fear. Nothing like baptism by fire, or baptism by water.

I was surprised at how quickly I got over my fear.  Before I knew it our little group was moving up and down the lane, a vision of kicking legs and swinging arms trying to simulate something, ANYTHING that looked like freestyle swimming. By no means were we pretty, oh no we were not.  But I was relieved to be over my fear of putting my face in the water. Or so I thought...

Later that night Tom informed me that he had absolutely no desire to take swim lessons. I was on my own in this venture.  My other classmate (the young girl) came to about 5 classes then secretly confided in me that she didn't have the endurance for swimming. That was the last time I saw her. So, I ended up with 5 private swim lessons and I became the sole survivor of the adult swim class.

By mid January my classes with Ray ended and I completed the DisneyWorld Marathon the week before. I was ready to start practicing swimming full time.

I'm the new girl on the block and I'm the new girl in the pool!