21st Century Mom » Swimming

Sharkfest 2009 – aka Suckfest

21st Century Mom — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:54:28 +0000

This year was the 17th annual Sharkfest swim from Alcatraz. For me it was the 3rd annual. I signed up for it immediately when registration went on-line last Sept or Oct because I just couldn’t wait to do it again! Registration for 2010 is already open and I have yet to jump on that.

In the last 2 years I’ve done this with FeLady, Mr. FeLady and some friends of theirs (J and P) and it has been a ton of fun. This year the FeLadys were not able to come due to school starting so I figured it would be just me doing a solo act although their friends would be there. I just didn’t have a lot of hope of finding them in a crowd of 800 because my sighting is bad in those cases. In fact my sighting is weak, oh so weak, a reality that would come back to haunt me viciously on this swim.

I really wasn’t feeling it. In fact, I had a strong sense of doom and very nearly talked myself out of the race but I paid $100 bucks for it and I’m training for an IM so I made myself just keep moving forward. I left the house late and then missed the exit I needed to take, found myself in the middle of San Francisco going the wrong way and hitting a red light about every 2 blocks. I finally got back to where I needed to be but the red lights just kept it up – ugh. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t get there in time. Wishful thinking.

Finally got there, parked at Ft. Mason in a 2 hour slot (very risky) and started running to packet pick-up. Only I tried to take a shortcut across the lawn of an historic house and ended up on the edge of a sharp drop off – no way down (duh! It’s a FORT!). Then I found some paths through a wooded area and even though I knew perfectly well they were probably made by homeless people I just kept going – until I hit a homeless encampment. Oops! I finally headed for the street and ran with my transition bag full of wetsuit, clothes, water bottle, etc. It was kind of heavy. I was running in slightly oversized FUGS (fake Uggs from Costco) that made a loud and annoying flapping sound and alerted everyone within a 100 yard radius of my presence. Oh Lord.

I finally got to the building fully expecting people to be shaking their heads and saying ‘sorry – too late!’ but no such luck. The line to get your chip was still out the door. It’s game on!

Got chipped, suited up, got my stuff and started to head to the ferry when who should I see but Mr. FeLadyFriend (aka J) and wife – yay! I instantly felt better for not being alone. Only J is a swimmer, not his wife so we parted ways and got on the ferry. J was explained how to get the best line to me on the way out. Fat lot of good that did.

The boat stopped by the island and it was time to jump. By now I was feeling much better about this whole thing but I was desperate to pee and really looking forward to the line up at the start where I would have time. I said good-bye to J because I knew he would be out of the water long before me (he spent 3 weeks swimming 5,000 meters a day to prepare) and off we went.

Jumping off a ferry into the SF Bay is always a shock – that water is cold. I was taking my time heading to the start because I had to get my face used to the water and I really needed to pee (I’m going to have to write a race report theme song called “Boy Did I Need to Pee!”). Sadly, No time! I didn’t make it to the line before the horn went off – drat!

My goal was to stay with people and not end up all by myself, off course. Goals are really good but we call them ‘goals’ instead of ‘this is the way it will be’ for a reason. I was with people, then I was near people and on my way over and then – no people. I found the people and headed for them and then – no people. Lather, rinse, repeat until I didn’t really see the people any more. I didn’t see the red buoy on the lead boat, I saw only kayaks and I mistakenly thought that as long as kayaks were near I was okay. I’ve made this mistake before but never quite understood the issue.

Did I mention I was wearing dark, mirrored goggles? This is a big no-no in open water swimming and I know this. Unless the sun will be blinding you you need to wear clear goggles so that you can see because being able to see = good sighting. Dark goggles = short sight line = you’re not going the right way = story of my life. That plus the night before, for the every first time ever I had to wear my glasses to see the TV across a short room.

The water was much rougher than I was expecting it to be, too. It was smooth and glassy inside the sea wall but out in the open I was getting buffeted around like a gum wrapper blowing down a windy sidewalk. I tried not to be nervous about the current or the fact that I often couldn’t see over the waves.

At one point I knew I was not doing so well so I stopped, pulled up the goggles, looked around and there were some people so it wasn’t so bad. The big crowd was so far along I didn’t see them and I still needed to pee so I just hung out there and took care of business. I just didn’t care any more. I got my bearings, found something to sight on and got going again. I could go on and on and on about how I couldn’t lock on to a target and wandered in the wrong direction perpetually but it gets boring so I won’t.

Ultimately I was getting closer. I could see a big gray ship that I thought was right at the mouth of Aquatic Park so I headed for that. As I got closer I realized I couldn’t see the Maritime Museum, couldn’t see the opening in the wall and couldn’t see the red buoy marking the opening of the wall so I stopped, started treading water and finally, FINALLY a kayak dude said, “head right – see that big red ball over there” and I did – about 500 meters away to my right. ARGHH!! The good news was that I was close so off I went.

click picture to enlarge

I got inside the park and got passed by a breast stroker. Yeah – I know. I drafted off her. Other people were starting to pass me and I started getting very, very worried about a DFL but I was beyond fighting and this isn’t a race I do well in ever so I just kept swimming and I finally got out of the water. People smiled at me in a way that said, “you have smutz all over your face” and said, “nice job!” and I felt my face and it was covered from top to bottom with sea smutz. Can’t wait to see the pics (not!)

I turned around to confirm my status and I’m happy to say I was not DFL. I was certainly among the last 20 in but not the last. Regardless, I was not happy. I was quite cranky. I was really mad at myself and really perturbed that the kayaks had let me go so far off course but I have to assume I was not the only one. Some poor soul was probably sighting off of me – HA! Big mistake.

Mad as I am about the whole thing and as much as I feel like a loser I’m all too aware that many people reading this would never, ever voluntarily find themselves in the middle of the San Francisco Bay and you think I’m quite the stud for jumping off the boat in the first place. I also feel a deep gratitude that I have the ability to swim that far in bouncy water and come out alive and well in the end. All of that health and vitality are a gift and I try really hard not to forget that.

Tomorrow I go on a century ride. I can follow the road and that’s a good thing.

Post Script: The kayaks are out there to keep you from going too far off course. If you are swimming near them then they are probably in the process of herding you back where you belong. Lesson – don’t sight off the kayaks and if your trajectory takes you toward them stop and find something solid and unmoving to sight on. I sincerely hope this isn’t a lesson I have to keep learning over and over.

Bookmark and Share

Monday Tuesday – Long Weekend Update

21st Century Mom — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:23:32 +0000

I’m okay with a Monday Tuesday post because this Tuesday is Monday for most of us. Monday was Memorial Day and I hope you all remembered to remember and honor those who died in service to our country no matter how you feel about the conflict they served in.

Here’s what I did over this long weekend (warning – this is probably really boring but I’m doing it anyhow because I don’t have time to be interesting and you asked me to blog so I’m blogging!)

Friday – Swim masters (2100 meters with a lot of kicking and breast stroke); run 40 minutes having to pep talk myself the entire way (come on – one more song.. just keep going.. you can do it), OWS in the evening with a whole flock of people for probably about 1400 meters. Of course I zig zagged all over and could NOT get to the rest of the people and they just kept being ‘out there’ so I finally gave up and swam in, blinded by the sun. Note to self – wear mirrored goggles next time and stay on someone’s feet!

Follow up swim with burgers and wine with favored training bud Caroline.

Saturday – leisurely ride with BFF masters friends and former riding partners, one of whom is recovering from a back problem then drive out to time trial clinic and do 2 laps (3 miles) in the horrific wind. Got 5 seconds faster the second time around so yea!

After ride head out to East Stump Hole to spend the day with CASA kid. Get home at 9:00 PM (because it’s a 2.5 hour drive out to see CASA kid)

Sunday – run with newbies in my New Triathlete Progam (I got 20 people in the program – woot!), talk about importance of stretching and demo foam roller.

Then go for trail run up Mt. Diablo with Caroline.

Monday – get ass handed to me riding with my training BFFs Dana and Maggs who were doing a dress rehersal for IM CdA. I thought that if they already had 56 miles on their legs I could keep up. WRONG! I struggled desperately to hang on to a wheel and was successful at times but would then lose it. Net result was 40 miles at 16.7 mph average – PR! I’ve never ridden that far, that fast before and we were going into the wind much of the time. I ♥ training with those ladies. They did another 16 to finish off a full 112. They are machines! I think they ran for 6 miles after that, too. I ran for 15 minutes and baby it was HOT.

Go to other BFF training friend Vali’s house for BBQ which was both delicious and fun.

Today – rest day! I worked but it felt like rest after all of that.

Tomorrow- swim/run

Thursday – conquer Mt. Diablo with Maggs. I am determined to make it all the way to the very, very top! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Bookmark and Share

Dancin’ in the Moonlight

21st Century Mom — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:14:37 +0000

I just wanted to update everyone on my 3 AM masters swim. It was fabulous. The air was cold, the moon was full and the pool was very warm. 44 people showed up to swim and we had 2 coaches on deck. We took a picture which I will hopefully be able to share with you when someone sends it out. Everyone felt deliciously maniacal for getting up at that hour of the morning and showing up to swim. The coaches provided coffee and donuts (I ate 2 glazed donut holes) afterward.

The workout went like this. You had to swim 6 x the distance where the repeats looked like this:

1 – kick swim by 25 (that means you kick for 25 yards then swim 25 yards)

2 - swim free 25 and non-free 25

3- choice (we repeated round 2)

4,5,6 swim the distance descending your time each one.

So we did 6×150, 6×125, 6×100, 6×75 = 2550 plus I did a warm up of swim 300, pull 200, kick 100 for a total of 3200 3300 yards.

When I got home I surfed Facecrack, read my email, ate some more and then got back in bed where I slept for 4 hours. So mucy for being an early riser.

As days go I’d say that was pretty good if not a twee lazy. Hopefully next year I’ll be a working woman and will only be able to take a quick nap before getting ready to go to work.

Bookmark and Share

Chums or Chum? That Was the Question

21stcenturymom — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:35:47 +0000

On Saturday June 28th I met up with FeLady, Mr. FeLady and their friends Mr. and Mrs. Chico to take my second shot at swimming from Alcatraz to Aquatic Park without getting eaten by a Shark. It was the FeLadies 5th swim. Mrs. Chico is the smart one of the group and was just along to socialize and be our sherpa. Her husband is the loony one in the family and was also out for Sharkfest #5.

As you can see, Cheryl and I suited up in sushi just to make things a little more interesting. Were we being chums or would we be chum? That was the question. Interestingly enough, both of us had had fantasies that the event might be canceled due to low visibility. No such luck. The skies were gray and there was wind but you could see just fine.

We suited up in neoprene and headed over to the ferry. This is a fairly long walk that must really amuse the tourists. Where else can you see 800+ wetsuit clad people and 20 or so non-wetsuit nut cases marching along one of the world’s most famous tourist attractions? Fisherman’s wharf’s finest hour if you ask me. Not that it took an hour to walk to the ferries but it does take about 15 – 20 minutes. It’s a good time to take a few deep breaths and get in touch with the reality that you are about to jump off a boat in dark and very cold water and swim for quite a while.

The ride out is the ride out. More time to panic if you don’t mind your mental machinations. I did not panic. I trusted myself and my experience and tried not to think about how badly I wanted to run out of the water at Couer d’Alene where the water temp was at least 1 or 2 degrees warmer. I kid you not. Sharkfest allows neoprene hoods but not booties. I had neither. I did have 2 caps, though.

T-minus no more time left and we are at the door with the guy yelling “JUMP!”. As soon as I hit the water I hear some woman from the other ferry screaming over and over and over “WAHHHHH! WAHHHHH ! WAHHHHH!”. I really wanted to yell “STOP THAT – YOU ARE TIPPING MY WAH”* but I knew she could never hear me over the din of her own terror and besides I figured she was one of the nut jobs with no wetsuit so who was I to criticize?.

We lined up at the kayaks and waited and waited and waited and waited some more for the horn to blow. Finally something happened and we all started swimming and that’s when things got really dicey. First of all it meant that it was time to put my face in the ice bucket – ow. Second of all I soon discovered that it was very, very rough out there.

My last recollection of being tossed around by water was when I was a kid playing in the surf at the beach on Long Island sound. Scary but I could touch the bottom. Not here. The water was sort of roiling and rough and I think there were currents to deal with. All I could do was poke my head up once in a while and try to find the 2 towers I was sighting on. The problem is that I’m not good l at stopping and looking around. I just want to keep swimming and swimming but I have no skill at all in holding a line. Can you spell z-i-g z-a-g?

So the swim went like this – zig, zag, roll, bounce, blub, blub, blub, swim, swim,swim, look up, correct, zig, zag, blub, blub, blub…. you get the idea. I drank quite a bit of salt water. I’d draw you one of those amusing pictures but honestly I have no idea. I just kept going. I was gratified to find myself not all alone after 15 minutes like I was last year. I could always look up and spot yellow caps and boats and that gave me great comfort. In fact, there was a guy in a speedo (crazy bastard!) who I met up with repeatedly. I knew he was making the best time he possibly could for shore so I took that as a good sign.

The amazing thing about an event like this is that all you can do is keep trying to move forward no matter how totally unnatural it is and let me assure you, clawing at water from a horizontal position to gain forward momentum and trying to breath and not panic is about the most unnatural thing I’ve ever done. That’s the part I love. It is positively surreal – no drugs needed!

At some point I realized that I could see the porches on the building I was sighting on and then I could see the orange buoy on the lead boat and I knew I was actually making progress. Then I could see the seawall and the masts of the C.A.Thayer and I swam harder and there was the speedo guy. I probably headed more to the left of the entrance to Aquatic Park than I needed to but there is a current that will pull you back toward it so it’s better to head left than to try to hit the thing dead on.

Finding that opening and getting through it was a kind of relief you feel only when the traffic jam you are stuck in breaks up in just enough time for you to make your flight. It’s just like that. In that moment you know you will get to the shore and get out of that water and you will live to tell the tale. Last year I was so knocked out I couldn’t even find the buoys that mark the exit but not so this time. I saw those buoys, made a bee line and finally realized that my hand was hitting sand and I was in about 12 inches of water. HUZZAH! I stood up and ran out on the stubs at the end of my legs. My feet had checked out of service about 10 minutes into the swim.

As soon as I stood up I turned around and was elated to see the waters of Aquatic Park chock full of swimmers who were coming in behind me. My time was not so great and I was 15 out of 18 in my AG (FeLady was 9th – TOP TEN!!) but I was 171 out of 223 women (FeLady was numbah 100!) compared to last year when I was 162/209. So I moved up a few slots. The important thing is that I lived, trust me.

There were really 2 great lessons in this experience. The first lesson is that if you just keep going and don’t give up you can get there (absent any medical issues like hypothermia or broken bones). I used that thought extensively on Sunday when I decided to climb Mt. Diablo after riding 35 or 40 miles. I wanted to quit and just head down the hill but I kept envisioning orange buoys and shore and I kept pedaling and I got where I needed to be. The second lesson is that FeLady and I are chums. Not chum – chums. We had a great time together.

*ShoGun reference. I think that was the phrase. Does anyone else remember?

Bookmark and Share

Monday Monday – It’s the little things….

21stcenturymom — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:17:11 +0000

It’s Tuesday! So shoot me – I just didn’t feel like writing yesterday. I thought about all of you all week and all weekend as I blogged in my head repeatedly. I thought about how it’s the little things in life that make a lot of little smiles grow into a big one. Little things that happened that made me smile:

1). The cat ate a teeny, tiny piece of turkey that I didn’t have to cram down her throat. And then she stopped and it was back to the force feeding. At least she tried.

2). The cat has started leaving my bed to come sit on my lap when I’m watching TV. This is HUGE

3). The cat visciously attacked my hand the other day while I was petting her – she’s coming back to life!

4). I had a great call with Humbly Ann who was struggling with some stuff and I helped her feel better. Nothing warms a Mom’s heart more than helping her child out of a shadow. (That and learning that she didn’t get eaten by a shark – see previous post).

5). I was good about getting my 2 weekday rides in. I even rode the road that has the hill that kicks my butt and it did not. Good times!

6). The weather was gorgeous this weekend. My 90 minute run did not suck as much as last weekend’s 70 minute run so I was very happy about that.

7). I ran out of book on the run and started listening to music and heard the most perfect, sunny day running song, Sunny Day by Hyim If you click on that link you can hear it, too. The tempo is a little slow but on a hot sunny day when you are out running it feels just right.

8). I went to a bike maintenance clinic and not only learned some stuff but was finally told I look like I’ve lost weight. It wasn’t really the first time. Humbly Ann told me I looked skinnier in early April but I hadn’t started noticing it yet so it didn’t have the same impact as me noticing I’d lost weight and then not hearing that from other people. Now I SO appreciate both comments. I’m 6 pounds down and doing fine.

9). I climbed to the junction of Mt. Diablo again on Sunday. It wasn’t quite as hard as it had been the week before. The rest of my group went on to the top but I just didn’t feel like it was my day to do that so I’m scheduling that for May 17.

10). I have 2 events coming up! Next Saturday I am riding the Wine Country Century (metric) and May 10 I have my season opener triathlon, The Golden Bear. I’m excited!

11). I went to swim clinic Saturday morning and went from flailing in the water like a crazy person to actually pulling some water and making some progress. It was really great to have that experience BEFORE my first tri where I’m sure I would have gone nowhere fast for the first 10 minutes of the swim, otherwise. I love my race club!
And all of those little things add up to big things – sunny days, training progress and happiness.

This is my life with the cat now. We do this 2 or 3 times a day:

Bookmark and Share

Monthly 200s

21stcenturymom — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 23:21:47 +0000

When the pool is configured for short course swimming we do something called monthy 200s the first Tuesday of every month. If you have forgotten what day it is you are reminded when you see the coaches putting a tile and a mechanical pencil at the end of each lane.

The way it works is in month 1 you swim 4 x 200 descending. You write your time for each 200 on the tile. The next month the coach, who has recorded your times in a notebook, reminds you of your time on the 2nd 200 from last month and you start there, descending the next 3 from that time. It is hard and it is aimed to force you to work harder and try to swim faster as the season progresses. Some people hate them – I love them but it wasn’t always so.

For the first couple years that I swam I simply could not descend over 4 200s. I would try like hell, thrashing in the water like a hungry sea otter but not really making any headway. In fact, it was typically my nature to descend 2 from 1 and then the effort and the time would go up. It was maddening.

Then I started figuring this swimming thing out. Today I had my very best set of 200s ever. My times were
3:57, 3:53, 3:52 (curses! it felt so much faster!) and then 3:50. I did it! I was ecstatic to have all of them under 4:00. For me this was some serious progress.

While I was working hard and trying to do what I was supposed to do I thought about Greyhound and the lovely tribute he just wrote to his grandfather . If you have not read this piece I recommend you get on over there and read it right now.

The beauty of monthly 200s is that I know I need to work really hard for the next month so that I can start at 3:57 and keep descending. It’s game on, people! The season has officially started.

Bookmark and Share

Hibernating?

21stcenturymom — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 11:45:41 +0000

I’ve probably lost all my readers by now while you gave up on me ever posting again. Maybe you thought I decided to hibernate for the winter. It feels a little like I am hibernating but I’m not. I just got blogged out during NaBloPoMo and my life has been a little…how shall we say.. quiet for the last 10 days. I decided that it was time for the year in review.

This was my first real triathlon season. Prior to this year I did the Tri for Real sprint distance triathlon (700 yard swim, 18-ish mile bike, 4 mile run) in 2000 and then again last year. I PR’d last year by 23 minutes and by then had started reading triathlon blogs so that was the race that gave me the bug.

This year I raced 6 triathlons, 3 half marathons, 2 bay swims, 1 5K, 1 12K and one 4 mile run. That is more racing than I have done in my entire life before 2007 combined. So how did it go? You can find the boring old numbers after the jump if you are interested. They don’t really tell the story, though. That part takes words.

The best part about this season is that I had one. I did it. I toed the line time and time again and raced and of that I am proud.

The not so good part about this season is that time and time again I let my self doubt and a lot of low self esteem and internal self deprecating dialog hold me back. I didn’t really train because I figured ‘why bother – you suck any how’. I learned a lot about the depths of my image issues and managed, finally, to realize that toeing the line counts and that just having enough faith to make the effort is laudable so yay me! This is a first.

I also learned that if I put my mind, heart soul and body to this and really try I could be somewhat competitive. That’s how I took 2nd at Bethel Island. I raced. I could at least give the women in my age group vying for middle of the pack slots a run for their entry fee and next year I intend to do just that. I have a lot more ability and drive than I have ever tapped in to so next year my goal is to really train and to race hard – to give myself some credit to succeed and to train to that end. That will be another first.

Right now I have only 2 events locked in for the season – The Sharkfest Swim (currently sold out!) and Vineman 70.3 (about half sold out so if you want to do it get on it!). I also expect to do the Bay to Breakers, hopefully with a bunch of bloggers in Tutus. I am currently awaiting for the Dec 15 Escape from Alcatraz random drawing. I SO hope I get in. If I don’t get in to Alcatraz (and perhaps even if I do) I may very well do Wildflower Short Course again just to transcend my horrible experience from last year. I won’t go down until Saturday, though because that camping was kind of awful. 1 night of that is quite enough, thank-you-very-much. I will also do the Tri for Real because that is my “A” race where it all started.

I want to thank each and every person who has encouraged me and told me I rock and reminded me that just showing up not only counts – it’s HUGE! It has taken me quite some time to get the message but I think I’m there!!

To the extent that I have been hibernating I am going to do it for a few more weeks. I’ve been swimming 3 days a week and I’ve done a bit of running. I’ve gotten on my bike exactly once since SOMA. I did not go for a ride this morning with my favorite person to ride with because it was cold and I just don’t feel like it. I feel sort of bad about that but oh well. I did not do the Bah Humbug 5K last weekend which was a mistake because I could have placed really well and a lot of people from Forward Motion were there and it would have been fun but I’m broke so oh well again. There’s always next year and next year is going to be great!

Date	Event	O’All/Div	Time
4-Feb	Kaiser Half Marathon Run – Half marathon	3693/67	2:23:35
15-Apr	Brickyard Run -4 Mile run	32/4	41:34
6-May	Wildflower Triathlon – Olympic	1019/25	4:39.54
22-May	Bay To Breakers Run – 12k	7838/168	1:22.31
10-Jun	Sharkfest Swim – 1.5 Mile Open Water Swim	161/15	50:17
4-Jul	Run San Ramon Run – 5k run	129/8	29:49
21-Jul	Tri For Fun #2 Triathlon – Sprint	NA/NA	1:25	(it’s for fun! They don’t track times or places
29-Jul	SF 2nd 1/2 Marathon Run – 25k/Half marathon	1496/40	2:28.05
12-Aug	Folsom International Triathlon – Olympic	153/10	3:33:41	(a 66 minute PR over Wildflower – booyah!)
16-Sep	Tri for Real #14 Triathlon – Sprint	117/6	02:06.2	(2 minute PR over last year)
29-Sep	Bethel Island Triathlon – Olympic-ish	39/2	3:10:22	First Ever Podium Spot – Huzzah!!!
30-Sep	TI 2 Y Swim – 1.5 Mile Open Water	156/10	01:11.2	(stretched on wrong side of mats – D’OH!)
21-Oct	Nike Women’s Half Run – 25k/Half marathon	4183/2346	2:29.32
28-Oct	SOMA Quarterman Triathlon – Olympic-ish	512/9	3:52.31	(2 minute PR over last year)

Bookmark and Share

The Right Choice

21stcenturymom — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:43:09 +0000

When I wrote my post about girls and swimming it reminded me of some t-shirts I’ve seen on these girls so I had to share.

Shirt 1

Back

Shirt 2

Shirt Front

Shirt Back

Go You Girls – Swim Fast!

Bookmark and Share

Girls Gone Wildly Athletic

21stcenturymom — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 08:54:49 +0000

Greyhound wrote a really great post the other day about kids who swim competitively, probably on US teams (the training ground for future Olympians). He noted, among other things, that the girls at swim practice were confident and when the boys teased them they gave at least as well as they got. No cowering and giggling for them.

I have a perspective on those girls that Greyhound is not privy to, though. I find these young women endlessly inspiring and entertaining if not a tad loud for that hour of the morning. Admittedly I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with them I’ve developed as a result of sharing a locker room with them a couple days a week. A locker room full of women changing from street clothes to suits and from suits to being naked in the shower. .

One of the funniest parts about having them in the locker room is that these girls with their perfect bodies and their little buns the size of a pair of grapefruit use a lot of elaborate maneuvers involving towels and shirts to get undressed without revealing anything – until the towel comes off and they are in a suit that could fit 3 to a band-aid box. Once they are comfortably clothed in their nearly non-existent suits they prance out to the deck like they own the place. I don’t think they are self conscious in a particularly pathalogical way – I think they are just at an age where kids have an overblown need for modesty.

Before they go off to lift weights or swim laps I can catch them in the mirror taking furtive glances around the room at the middle aged and older women. I can tell when I catch the expression on their faces that they are thinking “I will NEVER look like THAT! EW!!!!” because even the most fit women sport at least a little cellulite. I want to give these girls my most sympathetic and motherly look and say, “there, there… it’s not so bad”.

I don’t, though. As grossed out as they are they have more important things to think about like themselves, the meet they are training for, the classes they are taking and the boys they are figuring out how to attract without giving up who they are in the process. Just the other day Dear Abby advised a young women who only seemed to be able to attract boys as friends that perhaps she should emphasize your feminine side and present yourself in a different light. This may mean temporarily downplaying your involvement in sports and amping up your “girlishness”.

I like to think that my young athletic acquaintances in the locker room would kick her dimpled ass for that crappy advice. I’m pretty sure they would.

Bookmark and Share

Shamu, Is That You?

21stcenturymom — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:31:43 +0000

It wasn’t enough for me to get up at 5:00 AM on Saturday. I needed to do it again on Sunday, this time to go swim with the sharks in the SF Bay again. My friend Melia was in on this one, too. I picked her up at 5:30 and we headed over the bridge to partake of the YMCA’s TI 2 Y swim (Treasure Island to the YMCA). Same set up as Sharkfest but a different area of the bay.

This event is extremely well organized. You start at the Y’s fantastic facilities on the Embarcadero. They have 3 or 4 floors, one of which is a huge gym and some really big locker rooms. The prospect of taking a hot shower and putting on regular clothes after the swim made it all the more exciting.

We got our packets and went to put our stuff in a locker. I made an attempt at putting my Garmin in a baggie and putting it under my cap but it wasn’t working out so I abandoned that idea and left it in the locker. We headed down for the pre-swim briefing where we were told where the ferry would stop and roughly how our swim route would go. The guy describing all of this mentioned that whereas last year the current was with the swimmers and created some really fast swims, that would not happen this year – the current would not necessarily be our friend. He wasn’t kidding.

Melia and I decided to try to stick together if we could. We jumped off the ferry and lined up together and when the gun went off we did manage to stay together for quite a while. We were sighting on a large building and it all seemed to be going really well in calm water. We lost each other for a while but then there she was! All was great until all of a sudden the water started undulating and rolling and was not so calm any more. I lost her and I just started focusing on swimming.

I soon found myself all alone but there were kayaks just to my left so I (wrongly) figured I was on course. In fact, I thought the kayaks were there to keep you from getting too close to the Bay Bridge so I sort of swung right, away from the Bay Bridge and toward the ferry building. Then, I saw what I thought was a kayak right in front of me. I started to go right around it and I heard a voice say ‘Get on – you’re about to end up getting swept out the Gate” It wasn’t a kayak at all – it was a jet ski with a SF Police officer on it. “Get On – come on – get up here”.

I really didn’t want to do that because I was sure I’d be DQ’d but he was a cop giving orders so I got on and held on and he took off passing a whole bunch of swimmers. All I could think of was “WAIT – I was right there – right with THOSE people… why are you doing this??? And I wondered as we buzzed past a lot of people if he was taking me in. I looked back and saw Melia and waved knowing she would have no idea who was on that jet-ski. In fact I wasn’t positive it was her but I thought it was and then I was triply bummed out because we had been so close together and now I was being given assistance. What happened?

Then he stopped and said, “slide off the back and finish your swim”.

Huh??

But I was happy because I didn’t show up for a ride on a jet ski – I showed up to swim to shore and now I would get to. As I swam and swam and swam (because I was still way out there), I thought about what a surreal experience it was. There you are in dark, green, murky water doing something that is very unnatural. You put your face in the water to exhale and pull it out to inhale, all the while propelling yourself forward, mostly with your arms and hands. Bizarre. As strange as it is, it is very meditative and other worldly. You get that out of body, out of this universe experience without the drugs. Nice!

At one point I found myself swimming through a very warm current of water. I got a little frightened and started thinking “is this the hot breath of Shamu I’m swimming through? Am I about to be eaten by a sea monster? Is this some tropical, Portuguese man of war infested water?” I swam a little faster but soon realized that if Shamu were in the hood I couldn’t swim fast enough to escape so I might as well keep a comfortable pace.

I finally made it to the stairs to exit the water and I thought I felt a cramp coming on so I beached myself like a seal and told the handlers I was just going to sit for a minute – big mistake. When I was sure my leg wouldn’t cramp up I stood up, crossed the mats and told the guy taking down times I thought I should be DQ’d because I got a lift on a jet ski. He told me not to worry about it and sent me on my way.

I walked a few more steps and there was Melia. WHAT??

“How did you get in so fast? I had to be picked up by the jet-ski and I buzzed right past you and waved!!!”

“That was you??? I got picked up, too!”

Turns out a lot of people had to be rescued from the current. They were just stuck and not getting anywhere and there was no way for them to break free. I just got picked up before she did and, I would assume, dropped off sooner. Or not. I think my aim on the final approach was wrong and I managed to have to fight the flood tide in, too. I really wish I had persevered with the Garmin because I would love to see just how far off course I was but alas, I’ll never know.

I came in last in my age division. While I was sitting there getting back my land legs another woman in my division crossed the line – 5 seconds ahead of me. GGGGRRRRR…. But the important thing is that I showed up, I swam and I did not get washed out to sea. What a great weekend.

Bookmark and Share