Knowing Is Half The Battle

It occurred to me in the pool on Wednesday that I really never knew how to swim. I took lessons all growing up, both private and group lessons. I swam a short stint on swim team in high school with a coach who was completely inappropriate with his sexual inferences and jokes (he married a former student once she turned 18) and rarely did he do anything to actually correct one's stroke or give pointed direction. I swam in a few rec classes in college, too, but never remember the coach really working with me there, either? Then on to a Master's Program swim where I would painfully grind out the yardage with some occasional help from the coach that I guess I never grasped. I didn't like his, "run your finger tips down the lane line in the recovery" technique. Ouch.

Only Don has ever been able to break it down enough for me to actually grasp and understand what the stroke means. In a word: complicated. But, I also realize that, like with anything in life, knowing is half the battle. Before, I was ignorant. Now, I can see it, absorb it, try to put it into practice. He has not told me again that my stroke looks perfect, so either I am slacking again or he is feeling less generous with his compliments.

I didn't swim today. I did my last (at last!) long run before the marathon in 3 weeks. I am troubled by all the stomach pain I had today...not sure why my belly was so unhappy? We ran at a pretty good clip, so maybe that was it? I was glad to be done before the sky opened up and it started raining again. the wind has been just miserable *miserable* M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E this week with that tropical storm that is killing them in the Caribbean. I really should not complain, since people are losing their lives, but at one point this morning, the wind literally took our feet out from under us. Lisa and I were going over one of the bridges, and a gust came up so fast and furious, we both lost our footing and almost went down....no joke. I didn't know it was possible for wind to do that to something with our weight, but it must have been the combination of our movement forward, the way it was blowing, and our footing at the time. It was the craziest thing to experience for a split second.

5K tomorrow for Marc and Owen. I have a feeling Owen's competition will be back for a showdown....this time with reinforcement. I hope Marc can pull it off again, too. I love that geeky guy in his racing flats out there. What is wrong with runners anyway?