Better to date or marry a swimmer or not?

I just married a swimmer 6 months ago. We met swimming masters. On our masters team, ... there are two married couples that I know of who met swimming masters, and another engaged couple that met swimming masters. I'm sure there are more that I'm not thinking of... -Rick

I've always wondered if married swimming couples can only converse in 20 second intervals every few minutes.

This brings up another point, though, does the competition in the pool ever affect your relationship? I know a married couple that sometimes have a bit of difficulty competing together. They are both elite masters swimmers, but one is at a higher level. I think it creates issues sometimes for them. They rarely converse at meets. On the other hand, they are understanding about the need for practice time and making sure each gets to their workouts. I think, if you're a swimming couple, it might help to have different strokes or events. I'm just as happy not to be married to a swimmer, but I like being married to an endurance athlete because I think they have more of a sense of the pain, time, commitment, etc. involved.

All things being equal, I would rather have a romance with a swimmer than a non-swimmer. There's something about being in water beside a lithely muscled naiad; the occasional "accidental" slap of her pectoral fin as you pass by circle swimming;the wet hair and dazzling aquamarine eyes reflecting the sun bolts in the water; the refreshing, eminently clean, sacredness of it all. But if things go sour, you will have to find another pool, and give up your friends for a while, and try not to think too much about the last lines of the Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock: I grow old … I grow old … I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me. I have seen them riding seaward on the waves Combing the white hair of the waves blown back When the wind blows the water white and black. We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

I must have missed where Muppet said he was not single Muppet is dating SwimmieAvsFan. Don't you read? :thhbbb: There may have been a hint dropped here or there... I guess the hints may be too subtle for you, or maybe SwimStud's cape keeps getting in the way of your eyes :thhbbb: 20 months on Sunday. but who's counting? :dedhorse:

My husband is a non-swimmer athlete. I couldn’t imagine marrying a non-athlete. I dated a non-athlete once – for several years, actually – it turned out that was a major hinge for us not having much in common and becoming frustrated with each other. I liked to go out and do things in my spare time (walk the mall, go for a bike ride, play pool, obviously swim, etc.). He being a die-hard non athlete enjoyed many more passive activities (movies, reading books, video games, etc.) It’s great having an athlete husband. He’s supportive of my goals, understands the need to take time for fitness, and we have lots of common interests even though it’s not in our sport of choice. I was a swimmer my whole life, played a little volleyball on an intramural team, enjoyed shooting baskets (not actually playing basketball though), playing an occasional pick-up softball game, etc. He was a baseball player through grade school, on the crew team in college, and has played on a men’s hockey league team since college. On one of our first few dates he taught be how to rollerblade, he re-introduced me to ice-skating and we play on an extremely casual office softball team in the summer. I do sometimes wish he was a swimmer. It would be great to have someone who enjoys going to meets, and to push each other at swim practice (especially ‘cause I swim alone). Someone who understands the self-induced pain in training for a 200 ***. He doesn’t particularly enjoy or understand swim meets, although he tries. There’s so much down time at a swim meet when you’re not on a team it would be nice if he enjoyed the sport. Then we could plan vacations around nationals, and he wouldn’t mind coming with me for a 3 hour away day trip for a swim meet, etc… He’s agreed to give swimming a shot once he finishes his masters degree in May (nothing new until then). And only on the condition that he find goggles that comfortably fit so his eyes don’t get wet at all. He doesn’t even enjoy swimming and I recently found out it is because he hates getting his eyes wet (mostly due to contacts) but has never tried goggles. We’ll see how it works. It may be safer on our bank account if he just sticks to the hockey team though…

While I've never been in the position of competing at an event with my husband, I couldn't imaging it causing stress between us. Mostly because we would NEVER be directly competing against each other. He's competing against the guys and I'm competing against the women. Although it might be an issue if a few too many "pointers" start to get in the way. And because you intimately care for the other persons hopes and desires, their bad meet could really bring down your good one.

This is a swimming forum, which is why I'm reading the forum. It would be much easier to dispose of the silliness that permeates every thread than try to avoid reading what appear to be serious swimming threads that get hijacked by the cutesy bologna. This is a swimming forum. Wonderful observation. If I was another poster, I would say "Congratulations." As to the "cutesy bologna" or "flirting," to be sure, much is off topic or tangentially related to the assigned swimming thread. I think Rich aka SwimStud already spoke to that issue in a prior post. Some posters are annoyed by it and others obviously find it enjoyable. However, I'm not sure some of your posting is much different in theory. Many of your posts (not all, I've seen some very helpful and encouraging ones) are written in semi-attack-mode and you seem to like non-swimming topics as well, including government regulation of TFs, the seriousness of drunk driving and the ridiculousness of legal waivers and the legal profession. I personally enjoy reading those posts too, and find your posts witty and insightful and your sarcasm refreshing. (Others might not.) I'm just not sure that they are any less objectionable than the "cutesy bologna." In theory, both types of posts are not necessarily swimming related and people may be forced to read over them to find the hard core swimming minutiae. In any event, there are many serious threads to participate in and many serious posters. Some posters are both serious and humorous. To each his own. To me, I can take a little humor with my stroke technique or training tips, which my posting shows I take pretty seriously.

:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :thhbbb: :thhbbb: All these silly icons annoy me! :frustrated: :drink: :joker:

All these silly icons annoy me! :frustrated: :drink: :joker: Initial caps annoy me. I'm sure we're all annoyed by something. Impossible for all posters to be clones.