First Swimming Lesson

Woohoo! Survived my first formal swimming lesson. It was with a very nice woman named Sue with a British accent. Not that that matters, but everyone likes a good British or Scottish accent. :)

We worked on treading water some, and mostly on body position for efficient freestyle swimming and breathing. Air is good. I took in a fair bit of it, along with a lot of water. You know that thing about getting 8 glasses of water per day? Yep, got it covered. {sputter} But I think I learned a fair bit, and I'll be practicing. So far, so good.

And no five year olds! Though the form I filled out to sign up for the lessons made lots of references to "your child". I'll just pretend I didn't see those.

(Please help out with a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my fundraising page -- Thanks so much!)

We're a Quarter of the Way There!

Woohoo! Thanks so much for the tremendous support y'all have shown already. We're now more than a quarter of the way to our fundraising goal! I truly appreciate all the help and encouragement everyone has been so generous with. Thank you.

If you haven't donated already, I'd sure be grateful for whatever you can spare for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. A quick stop at my fundraising page makes it quick and easy. And you'll feel so good!

Now, back to my swimming practice. {gurgle} {sputter} {gasp}

(And in case you were wondering, "What's with the horse?" ... it's a quarter horse to celebrate being one quarter of the way there!)

Team Meeting (with Pizza)

Our first team morale meeting will be over dinner at Mellow Mushroom pizza on Monday (11/26). This is evil, of course. They sensed my weakness for pizza. They seek to exploit this. They'll tempt me with something wonderful, then tell me I can't have it unless I work harder. Or even worse, everyone else will order salads. Then I'll have a choice to make...

Addendum: I split a medium Kosmic Karma pizza with our mentor. So all was well.

(Please help out with a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my fundraising page -- Thanks so much!)

I Didn't Drown

I'm still waiting for the ACAC folks to get lessons arranged, but that didn't stop me from throwing myself in the pool anyway. Yeah, it was the warm water pool with the older folks relaxing in it, but I swam 28 laps in it (it's about 10 yards long), then went and did two laps in the "real" pool. Total of about 335 yards in 45 minutes. Beijing Olympics, here I come! Or not.

Addendum: Swim lessons will start on 11/30!

(Please help out with a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my fundraising page -- Thanks so much!)

A Personal Best Run Time

So I didn't get in the running yesterday that I'd planned to, but I got in four miles on the track at ACAC today, and did it in 32:39. By a serious runner's standards that's still slow, but it's almost averaging an 8 minute mile, and that's my best time on four miles yet. Woohoo!

(Please help out with a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my fundraising page -- Thanks so much!)

Desired Outcome

So about that swimming thing...

Getting Started

Okay, it's 200 days from now until June 1st, 2008. At this point, I cycle moderately well, though not super fast, I run marginally and definitely not fast, and I can proudly say that I know people who are really good swimmers. I'm just not one of them.

So... I'm in the process of making arrangements for swimming lessons. Hopefully they'll start soon. I joined ACAC yesterday so that I have access to their pool and instructors. I expect to be spending a lot of time there in the next few months.

Long before the triathlon, I still have the Charlottesville Men's Four Miler to run on December 1st, so today I'm going to go running to keep that skill up. It won't be fast, but I hope to work up to fast. Right now I'm running about 9 minute miles.

(Please help out with a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my fundraising page -- Thanks so much!)