Day 1: Swimming

The girls were great cheerleaders!

Not the best photo I've ever taken, but just keeping it Reals :)
So, it's RIDICULOUS that I never properly learned to swim. Growing up in Yak, we had a pool. We lived out in the boonies and there wasn't much else to do. While I mastered diving and can do a mean dog paddle, I never learned much else, in respects to aquatics.

It's really kind of embarrassing to be a grown up and not even know how to do the crawl.

Let's start with the equipment: I don't even own a proper swimsuit (or as we call them at our house "swimmers"). I pulled out the most "sporty" bikini I own and hoped for the best. Jeff, God Love Him, had bought me some swim goggles recently at the gym, so I was set there. (And seriously, who looks good in those Speedo suits anyway? Well, I guess real swimmers do, with their 6% body fat, but the rest of us need a little help in the "flattering" department, am I right?)

All week Jeff has been telling me I needed to watch some instructional YouTube videos. I scoffed and rolled my eyes, but what was I doing this morning? Watching several videos of the crawl and the importance of "high elbows", doing the right thing with your pelvis, rotating hips when coming up for a breath and so on and so on...Yikes! This is harder than Pilates, in terms of technique (Angie, are you totally laughing at me, yet???)

I think I must have looked hilarious.

Jeff, the coach, (who is by no means a professional swim instructor, but has completed a triathlon in the scary/murky waters of Lake Washington with a respectable time, so I think he fit the bill as a coach. And did I mention he is very patient?) said I have a "natural stroke" and that he was "even a little surprised" that I did so well. The breathing part? Not so natural. I didn't suck but I most def. was not channeling the cute girl in the videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTQpF_mmg44 .

(And, to be honest, it was a little difficult to concentrate when the buxom gal in the bright pink swimmer and matching lipstick, with lots of perfume on, started swimming (?) in the next lane with a kick board. There was a booming sound that emanated from her kicking, that nearly made me crash into the edge of the pool...)

But I did it. I kept trying. And I did -2- lengths of the pool, consecutively, with the breathing. And I didn't lose my bikini bottoms! Sadly, 2 lengths only equates to -1- lap at Columbia Athletic Club. But, damn, if it didn't feel good. And, the biggest surprise of all? I actually enjoyed it. Yay me!

I may just have to go get myself a proper swimmer, cuz I'm def. going back for more...