How many years have you been in USMS?

I've had two stints in Masters, the first one being roughly 1993-1994 (though I can't recall if I was a member both years) when I was in grad school and living in Madison, Wisconsin. I wasn't on a team, but trained solo at UW pools and YMCA pools around the state as I was also coaching an age group team part-time to help fund grad school. I think I only competed in two Masters meets then, one up near Green Bay and the Badger State Games, but did get one fun "USAS" type experience when the Y team I was coaching did a meet in Thunder Bay, Ontario and I entered a few events and swam with the kids. I wish I had started my "swim in a 1001 pools before I die" goal tracking back then as I did get into a pretty decent number of pools around Wisconsin then, but wasn't tracking. I then had a big gap from 1994 to 2000 as I started working (for real) in August 94, started my family in early 96, moved to Arizona in 97 and proceeded to get fat, stressed and dangerously unhealthy. Getting strapped up to an EKG machine in 2000 - barely more than a decade after being in the greatest shape of my life when I hung up my suit from competing at U of Texas in 1989 - and having my doc tell me I needed to make some serious changes had the right effect to motivate me back into the water. I started small, training solo at the Scottsdale YMCA before I finally felt like I was in shape enough to join the Phoenix Swim Club Masters team and set a goal to swim my first Nationals at Santa Clara in 2001, which I did and I was hooked. Though I had a hectic period from later 2003 to 2007 when I wasn't training or competing as much as I would've liked, I've been a proud member ever since 2001. And, while I definitely got my health back on track with the initial burst of enthusiasm over 2001 to 2003, since 2008, the combination of these forums and competition has put me in an even better position healthwise. Have competed now: SCY Nationals 2001 - Santa Clara 2002 - Hawaii 2003 - ASU 2008 - Austin 2009 - Clovis 2010 - Atlanta 2011 - Mesa 2012 - Greensboro 2014 - Santa Clara 2015 - San Antonio 2016 - Greensboro (can't wait!!) LCM Nationals 2003 - Rutgers (*one event as my company was down the road and I snuck in a crappy 400 free*) 2012 - Omaha 2013 - Mission Viejo 2017 - (Hopefully) Minnesota I don't ever see myself NOT being a member of USMS ... especially as I'm hoping that someday, somehow, I'll age up and at least one National record won't seem off-the-charts impossible ;)

I've had two stints in Masters, the first one being roughly 1993-1994 (though I can't recall if I was a member both years) when I was in grad school and living in Madison, Wisconsin. I wasn't on a team, but trained solo at UW pools and YMCA pools around the state as I was also coaching an age group team part-time to help fund grad school. I think I only competed in two Masters meets then, one up near Green Bay and the Badger State Games, but did get one fun "USAS" type experience when the Y team I was coaching did a meet in Thunder Bay, Ontario and I entered a few events and swam with the kids. I wish I had started my "swim in a 1001 pools before I die" goal tracking back then as I did get into a pretty decent number of pools around Wisconsin then, but wasn't tracking. I then had a big gap from 1994 to 2000 as I started working (for real) in August 94, started my family in early 96, moved to Arizona in 97 and proceeded to get fat, stressed and dangerously unhealthy. Getting strapped up to an EKG machine in 2000 - barely more than a decade after being in the greatest shape of my life when I hung up my suit from competing at U of Texas in 1989 - and having my doc tell me I needed to make some serious changes had the right effect to motivate me back into the water. I started small, training solo at the Scottsdale YMCA before I finally felt like I was in shape enough to join the Phoenix Swim Club Masters team and set a goal to swim my first Nationals at Santa Clara in 2001, which I did and I was hooked. Though I had a hectic period from later 2003 to 2007 when I wasn't training or competing as much as I would've liked, I've been a proud member ever since 2001. And, while I definitely got my health back on track with the initial burst of enthusiasm over 2001 to 2003, since 2008, the combination of these forums and competition has put me in an even better position healthwise. Have competed now: SCY Nationals 2001 - Santa Clara 2002 - Hawaii 2003 - ASU 2008 - Austin 2009 - Clovis 2010 - Atlanta 2011 - Mesa 2012 - Greensboro 2014 - Santa Clara 2015 - San Antonio 2016 - Greensboro (can't wait!!) LCM Nationals 2003 - Rutgers (*one event as my company was down the road and I snuck in a crappy 400 free*) 2012 - Omaha 2013 - Mission Viejo 2017 - (Hopefully) Minnesota I don't ever see myself NOT being a member of USMS ... especially as I'm hoping that someday, somehow, I'll age up and at least one National record won't seem off-the-charts impossible ;)