Baby's first swim

Ms. Maya had her first swim at the Y yesterday in their 90 degree kiddie pool and enjoyed it very much. Alas this was undocumented not for a lack of cameras but the Y's firm policy of no photography around the pool. This is to discourage sexual predators somehow.

I used to swim at UM regularly. There was a viewing area outside of the pool frequented by men whose women were required to cover up all their body except for the face. This really upset my training partner (this is when I was doing triathlons) and he shooed some of them away. It seemed so hypocritical of these men to require their wives to be covered but then it was OK to drool at women doing their laps.

I haven't swam except to snorkel in more than 15 years. I used to swim quite regularly although my form was even worse than my running form. At one point, I was able to swim farther than I could run (2.5 miles). Once I had 2 kids, it was hard to find the time to swim so I switched to running. In 1984, I did my first biathlon..1 mile  open water swim and then a 5K cross-country run. Even during my first running race, I wasn't last even though I had just started running ( I did get fairly good at it but now due to numerous challenges..I am so slow but I should be grateful I can run as well as I do). I assumed there would be slower swimmers than me..wrong. There may indeed be slower swimmers than me but they don't show up to do a one mile open water swim. Slow runners may show up to races but they have the option of walking and even if they did collapse from fatigue, you'd at least find their body. Furthermore, my bad technique wasn't my biggest problem; having 20/600 vision was. I had assumed I'd just follow the crowd but after a few minutes when I looked up, I saw no one. We were to follow a path very spottily marked with gallon milk jugs. Against a white sky, they were impossible to see especially with my poor visual acuity made worse by leaky, foggy goggles. We were to raise our arm if we were in distress. I did and after a while, a row boat came over to me offering me a ride back to the start. I said I wasn't tired or injured, I just couldn't see the path. So the boat rowed beside me begging for me to come into the boat and at other times suggesting how I could improve my stroke. I was last out of the water, by a whole lot, and it had taken a whole hour. I was able to overtake some people  on the running course.

I did get much better at the swim though it still was the weakest link by far in the triathlon. In a closed course lake in which you swam 4 lengths to make a half mile, I did that in 15 minutes but that was drafting off of my fellow swimmers (one can really swim much faster in the slipstream of another swimmer) They ban drafting during the bicycle leg but it would be hard to prevent during the swim. The best I did swimming a mile in open water (no lanes) was 35 minutes. I did have contact under my goggles..no more swimming blind.

Still too slippery outside to run so back to the track.
Josh and I went over to spend part of the afternoon with Maya and Josh. Josh seems to enjoy interacting with the baby..hopefully he and Julia will get baby fever soon but I have been warned about being too greedy about acquiring grandbabies.