2 weeks left....

The rain pours hard outside and wind blows while I hear little pitter-patter of feet from kids not in bed....as long as they don't come out of their room right now, I'm happy. I treasure my blog-writing time!

2 weeks from today I'll be on my way to California to participate in my first triathlon! The Catalina Island Triathlon. Its quite exciting-doing something completely new. My sister Anne, my brother-in-law and I are all doing the race. This is Anne's 3rd triathlon, I believe.
Swimming has been tough. When I started training about a month ago, I was still afraid of the deep end of the pool! And I was able to swim maybe 7 or 8 laps with the assist of fins or a kickboard. This week I was able to swim half a mile without any kickboard or fins! Yeah! So I'm feeling confident that I won't drown in the ocean! About half of my swim was freestyle and the other half just kicking along on my back.

A funny thing has happened-I actually enjoy swimming now! I love the feeling of pulling myself through the water. And I love how there is SO much skill to it. Its like any other sport-takes lots of time and practice before it feels easy or natural.

As Betsy Lund put it so eloquently in an e-mail,
"I suggest getting involved in swimming, as I found it helped me overall in everything physical ever in life. The core strength is unbelievable, if you can get to that level. I was a mediocre swimmer, and have become an advanced mediocre swimmer, proof that it can be done. Biking has a lot to do with the bike, which I would have denied years ago; and running, well, is running. Not much to say there. Just stick with it -- it gets better."

Her advice has been prominent in my mind in the past month. Especially as I've worked my schedule to get as much pool time as is humanly possible with pools not open, broken down pools, my work schedule, Patrick's schedule, kid schedules, etc... I did it with the hopes that I would see the benefits in my overall strength and fitness. And I think I have! Yeah!

Zoya

Photo is of the swimmers running into Catalina Harbor for the start of the race--last year, I believe. 1/2 mile swim! Photo is from the Catalina Island Triathlon website.