Had a weird thing happen at practice today. I was finishing my swim with a set of 25yd butterfly to work on my stroke. I had the lane to myself, and for a time, both lanes to either side were empty. About midway through my set, an older woman got into the lane next to me and started swimming. Ordinarily I'd pay it no mind, but at one point when I was resting she turned to me and said "you know, it's really hard for me to swim backstroke when you're swimming like that, you're a real jerk!"
When she began her statement, I thought she was going to make some kind of joking comment. But as she finished it, I realized she was serious, and it kinda caught me off guard. Since the lane on the other side was open, I moved over a lane so as not to disturb her, and tried to apologize when she was at the end of the lane, but she just curtly replied "fine" and went on about her swim.
So my question is this, does swimming butterfly make me a jerk? I'm not going to stop swimming fly, but I'm just curious if anyone else has run afoul of other swimmers getting bent out of shape in this manner. To summarize, we both were in separate lanes (6ft wide), and she was swimming, not water walking. I wonder if Phelps runs into these problems :D
Parents
Former Member
I tend to give people the benefit the doubt, especially if it is a one-time occurrence. Maybe the lady just lost her husband, or she is having money, health, or in-law problems. Who knows? She could just be crabby all the time but I think you handled it pretty well by taking the high road.
On the other hand, folks seem to be "spring loaded" to be offended by the least, little action that permeates their place in the center of the universe. Still I try to take the high road.
This past Sat. I was warming up for a tri and hit someone lightly in the head with my arm. I apologized. He replied, "good luck crashing into people". I almost replied, "good luck getting out of other people's way" but I didn't. This guy was wearing a rash guard shirt for the tri swim so I though he didn't need any words from me. Moving on. --mjm
I tend to give people the benefit the doubt, especially if it is a one-time occurrence. Maybe the lady just lost her husband, or she is having money, health, or in-law problems. Who knows? She could just be crabby all the time but I think you handled it pretty well by taking the high road.
On the other hand, folks seem to be "spring loaded" to be offended by the least, little action that permeates their place in the center of the universe. Still I try to take the high road.
This past Sat. I was warming up for a tri and hit someone lightly in the head with my arm. I apologized. He replied, "good luck crashing into people". I almost replied, "good luck getting out of other people's way" but I didn't. This guy was wearing a rash guard shirt for the tri swim so I though he didn't need any words from me. Moving on. --mjm
