Monday, October 3, 2011

Like a Fish

Did I happen to mention I started swimming? Well I did. About 2 months ago. I decided I needed to start doing some sort of workout seeing as how the running thing sort of took a nose-dive. Not that I didn't like running. I do. It's just that I found that I made way too many excuses as to why I couldn't do it: too dark outside, too hot/cold, too dangerous, etc. I knew I needed to find something else that I could stick with. Something I could do all year round.

So one day my sister, Annie mentioned something about doing a triathlon next year. That got me thinking... maybe I should try swimming! Like running, I was never very good at swimming. I had to take swimming lessons twice as a kid because I forgot how. But, I figured hey, I got to be pretty good at running, maybe I could get good at swimming too! And thus began my swimming adventures.

Now, had I just been venturing into the swimming realm with no direction, I'm sure I never would have started. Luckily a co-worker friend of mine is a swimmer and he was able to give me some good tips and show me some helpful videos and such to point me in the right direction. And I'm not going to lie. Those first couple weeks I felt like I was drowning. Getting the breathing down was tough. And anytime I swam without my fins it seemed like I wasn't moving. Swimming even one lap (50m) took a ton of energy.

But here I am, a couple months into it, and I'm doing pretty well. I was surprised at how fast I improved. I can now swim 800m no problem... that's 16 laps. And the only reason I have to stop there is so I can leave in time to get ready for work. I'm not fast yet by any means, but I'm getting better everyday. I've even considered taking some actual swim lessons. I know. CRAZY. I've really been surprised at how many different activities I enjoy when I give it a fair chance. Who knew?

Me in all my swim gear glory. That's HOT.

5 comments:

heidi said...

CONGRATULATIONS! So cool that you've found something that you can do year-round (and all hours of the day!). I have the impression that swimming is, like, the PERFECT exercise: low impact, and strengthens the whole body.

I hope you find yourself falling more and more in love with it.

Good on you!

XO H.

Budsly said...

I'm impressed. I'm not a good swimmer at all, so good job with being able to go so far. I've thought about taking swimming lessons too, but I don't think it's going to happen at this point in my life. Keep it up, you're awesome!

Seth said...

I am way impressed too. One day Karen decided she wanted to be a swimmer and that was that! She went and got all the right gear and has been making regular '0 dark thirty' visits to the pool ever since. I admire her for not being afraid to try something new and I admire her for being so dedicated. :-)

Rachel said...

Good for you! I want to come!

Collette Smith said...

May I echo Seth's sentiments. You rock, Karen.