Who are all these people?

I am an older fellow who has a lovely wife Chuckie, we have 6 children all who have taught swimming and are not children anymore. The have all worked in the special needs field but 3 have changed their professions but 3 still work with people in crisis. We have 6 grand children various ages from 26 to 1 year. I have done lots of swimming and intend to do lots more.

Rich: Is Duncan Goodhew a British swimmer or chef? Is nothing sacred? Duncan won us Brits a Gold in 1980 in yep you guessed it, Breaststroke! en.wikipedia.org/.../Duncan_Goodhew

Welcome to all who be new. I am Jeff, I swam in college - for the masters team :D ! Been swimming for a long while, but got serious 10 years ago my jr. year of HS. I like mid distance free and fly. Will do anything in the pool to get attention. Will swim any event(s) if there is a wager involved - especially "loser buys dinner" bets with young ladies. :banana: Famous for my hair (hense my name)... www.pvmasters.org/.../10002.jpg

Okay I'll go.... I'm a 45 yr. female, I'm a homeschool mom, who is back in the pool after 27 yrs. Swam competitively from 3rd grade to 11th. I try my best to get to the pool 3 times a week doing 2000 yds per workout. I do 50's & 100's free and back. Current goal is to do a .29 in my 50 free and as close to a minute in my 100. Have time trials in March and a local meet in April, I'm going to join USA swimming so I can swim more local and closer meets. I will joins Master as soon as I know I can make a meet, most are kinda far and have to weigh the expense. Want to at least join so I can hopefully swim in the Master Nationals in Austin in '08. We have a dog, 2 cats, and I help my daughter with her Llama training. Jan and Feb are our big Llama months, so I have to squeeze in swimming when I can, so she and the llamas are on my front burner for next few weeks.

blainesapprentice: If you want to get an idea of who we are read the "Masters Swimming Survey" at forums.usms.org/showthread.php I myself am a 45 year old with three great kids (14, 12, 6) who keep me hopping. The kids and husband also compete in endurance sports: swiming, running and triathlons. Little one still does soccer, which is not my personal favorite youth sport. I have been swimming masters for about 1 1/2 years, so I'm still pretty new. I'm a former age grouper and college swimmer who took 24 years off from swimming. Through nature and lack of sufficient time to train rigorously, I'm a sprinter (anything but breaststroke). I do compete when I'm not an ogre. I can be very ogre-ish about shoulders. Mine are apparently dessicated. I feel your pain on that bilateral operation ... Sorry, I know you love animals, but I'm horrifically allergic to dogs -- so we don't have any. I'm allergic to cats too, but unfortunately I didn't find that out until after we'd had ours for some years, so he's still here making me sneeze. I hate to cook. I also love to run, competed for some years in road races, and am generally an exercise junkie. I love to travel. When I sit still, I'm an avid reader. Sometimes I actually work at my profession, the law, but I try not to too much.

...the llamas are on my front burner for next few weeks. I suppose that's better than cooking your friends, but aren't you worried that the llamas will be overdone?

I'm Lisa I'm a mom of five kids Oh, yeah, I'm 34. Holy cow! Were they all single births? You've been busy.

I'm new here also so here goes . . . . I live, work and swim in grey and overcast London, England, training with Barnet Copthall who are one of the largest (and may I say best) masters swimming clubs in Europe. I've been doing masters swimming for 8 years (you can start at 19 here) and have competed at the World masters in Italy and California, plus the Europeans in France and Sweden. 50m freestyle and backstroke are my events (long course if possible). This year I celebrate my second annual 29th birthday making me a recently aged-up B group master. Out of the pool I run www.UptheBeavers.com, which is the most popular masters swimming website in Britain - though unlike in the US, the competition is not up to much. Away from swimming I enjoying cooking my friends and missing out commas.

Hi all, I mostly lurk but occasionally post. I'm a 34 year old chemist in the philadelphia area. 4 kids, 2 cats, and until yesterday a gerbil. I run, bike and do some (sad) gymnastics. Never swam competitively and got involved in the sport because I decided to do a few triathlons this next season. Swimming has really grown on me though and I want to concentrate more on it after the races this summer. I'm planning on a few open water races as well. I swim with a small masters group at my local Y. I enjoy trolling forums with shoulder injury/technique questions. Other than kids, work, and sports I like reading history and historical fiction and I play guitar (Irish pubs and old-time jams). My favorite food is lamb, and I think red is the fastest color swimsuit.

Hi all! Per from Stockholm, Sweden here. 35 years old Picked up swimming again 2 years ago after 16 years break. Back then I was on the youth national team...far from that shape today I am afraid. :) Got a beatiful wife and two wonderful small daughters (1,5 and 4 years old). Started swimming to get back into some sort of shape. Really enjoyed the masters team I started with and just had to go to meets to see if I could improve. I'm a breaststroker trying to convert to fly since my knees are no longer what they used to be. Backstroke is not an option, but can do free rather OK for my age. When I am not swimming I am dreaming of becoming a professional sailor...but spend way too little time on the water for that to ever happen... /Per