It’s good to be back in the water
Continuing on with the blast-from-the-past theme, something else you may or may not already know about my teenage years, is that I was on the Chandler High swim team my junior and senior years.
I swam the 500 freestyle more often than not, and while I wasn't ever that fast, I did get better over the course of those two swim seasons and I also had a blast being on the team.
Anyway, toward the end of my senior season, our head coach gave me a piece of advice — well, more like a mandate, really. Coach Johnson told me, "Never quit swimming," and I promised him that I wouldn't. Although I've taken some very long leaves of absence from lap swimming and gone through spans where I'm swimming very infrequently, I always have a swimsuit and goggles on hand for those spare moments when I can get to a pool — whether I'm in Tempe, Palm Springs, Cape Town or LA.
And last week, I put an end to another of those dry spells by getting back into the pool for the first time since probably the summer of '08. After a summer of convincing myself it was too awfully hot to do things outside during the day, I finally looked up the lap-swimming hours at the Palm Springs Swim Center and got back in the water last Monday evening.
I also picked up some new pool "toys" from Big 5 last week — a kickboard and pull buoy... and a new Speedo to wear under my shorts. (The one I've had since the fall of '03 is kinda gettin' worn out... Never mind that the swimsuit I've been wearing lately — my Chandler lifeguard suit — is even older.)
Then I put all that stuff to use tonight at the city pool. I haven't been swimming very far, and I certainly haven't been going very fast... but it's good to be back in the water again, and it's good to know I'm still upholding that promise I made almost six years ago.