What Keeps Me Busy...Part 3,,,,

Besides quitting my job to be a stay at home mom, starting a small mostly at home business, I am very busy being a part of the following:

And boy do I LOVE it!

I never took swimming lessons. I just learned on my own. I actually had the height and long arms for it as a kid and my parent's really wanted me to persue swimming...but I loved gymnastics. Of course me as a gymnast didn't go anywhere...for one, my parents wouldn't let me take lessons...

My sophomore year the high school started a swim team. My best friend at the time and I decided we would join and try it out. I fell in love! After some fast training in stroke technique from my coach I had the whole swim thing down. I went to districts my first year and made finals. I mainly competed in Freestyle and backstroke.

Senior year we got a new coach. Coach Bruns was a college swimmer and even swam nationally. He was an excellent coach. He made me better, he made me faster. He made me love swimming even more. I placed in the top 6 in all my events at districts. I was really sad when high school swimming ended.

So I tried club swimming for about 4 months. We were at a meet in Moses Lake and I really screwed up my lower back. Ironically it was jumping into the shallow end of the pool...long story short I hyperextended my back and had some disc compression injuries. I hurt all the time...and basically that was when I stopped swimming.

11 years later....married, a nurse, chubby from 3 kids in 3 years....I decided to swim again. I started going to the water exercise class but grew bored of this...so I started lap swimming...and thought I was going to die. Yes, I was completely out of shape! And if any of you know the true techniques of swimming, you would know that it is not an easy peasy thing to do. It works just about every part of your body, you gasp for more air, and its just plain hard. ( I often get a little chuckle seeing these tough looking jocks that bounce into the pool to swim laps and end up hopping right back out after a lap or two). So I just kept working at it, and the results started to show when I started slimming down. This was major motivation but I knew I wasn't pushing myself hard enough. 

That's when I had the bright idea that I should try to organize a Master's Swim Team. Master's is an International Adult Swim Team for ages 18 and up. Each state is divided into zones or associations. Here where I live it's the Pacific Northwest Association. Within this Association there are several different teams. The South Sound Masters Swim is the team in my area that covers the Olympia, Tumwater, Lacey and now Centralia/Chehalis area. So I thought if there were a Masters team at Thorbecke's I would probably get into way better shape and improve my endurance and skill. 

I started making connections with other serious swimmers at the pool. I met 3 people who had a lot of interest and experience, Todd, Betsey, and Gloria. The four of us made a good solid core Masters group, and slowly we started getting more interest. We found a coach, Heather, and today we are gradually starting to grow. We are a team. We merged into South Sound Master Swimming and are now SSMS @ Thorbecke's. 4 to 5 days a week I meet with my team and we practice. We swim hard, we offer eachother feedback, we encourage eachother, and we are all friends.

I have a great love for the water again. I cannot imagine not having it. I told my husband if we were to ever move I would have to know there was a place to swim. He completely agrees because he knows how happy it makes me.

So with Masters...there are swim meets again. The last time I competed was 11 years ago. I loved competing. Everything about it. Our first meet since forming our team was Rudolph's Plunge. This was a fundraiser for the Y in Tumwater. It was a blast. I was so nervous since it had been years since I competed. I ended up placing 1st in my age group and 4th overall.

This was part of our group from Thorbeckes that went.

We went back and worked hard to prepare for our next meet:

Beat the Clock Masters Swim Meet- Yesterday 02-05-2011.

This is me practicing my starts off the blocks.

Betsey swam the 1650 (just about a mile) and beat her personal record by 24 seconds.  Way to go!

This is what a start of a heat looks like. It's a rush to see who can get in the water, through the water, and back to the wall first and fastest!

Todd swimming his 100yd freestyle. That is 2 times down and back.

 This is Gloria. She is 80 and she broke 3 PNA (Pacific Northwest Association) records and personal records yesterday. I am inspired by her. This is where I want to be when I am 80. We are sad that Gloria will be leaving us to go live in Arizona soon.

This is Bret. He just joined us about 3 to 4 weeks ago...we talked him into going to the meet...he did and was awesome. This is his 50 yd freestyle.

Finally, this is me on the blocks getting ready for them to say "Swimmers take your mark". Todd and I were in the same heat right next to eachother. We had a little competition going amongst ourselves....I thought he would beat me, he thought the other way around... I was extremely nervous because I had never competed in the two individual events Butterfly and Breastroke in high school. I am actually considered an IM swimmer. Individual Medley because except for freestyle which is naturally the fastest stroke, all 3 of my other strokes are good and about the same speed. I signed up for butterfly and breaststroke at this meet to test the waters...and figure out my seed times.

A pic of Todd as we are racing back to the wall. And WOOOEY it was a close one. He couldn't see me and I couldn't see him. We both thought eachother was either way far ahead or way far behind the other. The final results...I beat him by 1 second! Next time I better watch out, I'm sure he will be back full force!

The pool is one of my favorite places to be. Yah I constantly smell like chlorine, the ends of my hair are constantly too dry, and I am tired from those early AM swims...but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I LOVE IT!

Thanks to my wonderful friend Clarissa who came and watched me swim yesterday. It meant a lot to me! We will get you back in the water someday C!