next year's goal

In hindsight, another six laps (or lengths if you want to nitpick) might have been possible. I jumped in the pool at the UT Student Aquatic Center this morning during the first Swim For Life event despite my dislike for going shirtless in public. There were many other swimmers, most of whom were under 18.



The lanes were designated from slow to fast, with members of the Atomic City Aquatic Club filling the very fast lanes. I chose a lane in the middle that had only two other swimmers at the time. My first goal was to swim 500 yards, the same length as a race my son would occasionally swim at his high school meets. As I counted off the twenty laps in my head, I thought about my plan to take a break and then swim some more. I also thought about the people who made donations to the American Cancer Society on my behalf. You can still donate, by the way.



The first eighteen laps were pretty easy. I started slow and kept a steady pace until I sprinted through laps nineteen and twenty. Instead of taking a break, I thought I should do a couple of warm down laps, which put me at twenty-two. Still feeling good, I kept going until I reached forty laps, which is 1000 yards. This time I sprinted through laps thirty-seven and thirty-eight and swam at a warm down pace for thirty nine and forty. Then I got out of the pool and rested for a while. I chatted with the staff from the American Cancer Society and met Laurel Chaney, the top fundraiser for the event.

When I got back in the water, I intended to swim another ten laps. I actually swam twenty more before stopping, bringing my total to 1500 yards. My arms were starting to feel like rubber bands and there was a tiny hint of a cramp coming on in my calf. I was pretty happy with myself until I checked the Internet this evening and learned my sixty were only six laps short of a mile.