Swim happy

Diana an old friend from the past, she knows her stuff. She started swimming marathon races just as I was ending my racing days. When I was in Mexico a couple of weeks ago, I got to do a swim clinic with Diana Nyad! She worked with each of us on our strokes and we all helped critique each other. When it was my turn I was told "you have an EXCELLENT stroke, VERY good!". Made me feel like a million bucks.:bliss:

Diana an old friend from the past, she knows her stuff. She started swimming marathon races just as I was ending my racing days. Very cool!! I was really surprised by how sweet she was, and very very funny. The clinic was made up of all levels and some of the folks were extremely poor swimmers, she was respectful and positive and every single participant. Just a wonderful experience!

My "swim happy" was competing in my first open water race(s), today, at the Georgia Games. :ohyeah:I swam a 3k (I've been told it was longer than 3k in past years; I'm not sure about today...) and achieved my goal of making it back in time for the start of the 1k; (mostly thanks to Rob Copeland who delayed the start of the 1k by five minutes. :D) But, I swam it in 1:1:24.14, beating out three others in my age group for a silver medal. And, as you can see by the photo, I was thrilled to see the 1k hadn't started yet! So, I jumped right back in for the 1k, swimming it in 20 minutes and beating out another gal by 11 minutes to win the gold in the Women's 50-54 age group. :bliss: Mostly, I was relieved the water, at 85 degrees, was the coolest it had been for this event. And, the cloud cover stayed for the first 2k of my 3k swim. Somehow, I survived the warm water and HOT air and felt great on my swims; a HUGE swim happy for me, given my heat intolerance problems! :agree: :chug: to Rob Copeland for running a fantastic event! I'll be back next year! :banana:

My "swim happy" was competing in my first open water race(s), today, at the Georgia Games. :ohyeah:I swam a 3k (I've been told it was longer than 3k in past years; I'm not sure about today...) and achieved my goal of making it back in time for the start of the 1k; (mostly thanks to Rob Copeland who delayed the start of the 1k by five minutes. :D) But, I swam it in 1:1:24.14, beating out three others in my age group for a silver medal. And, as you can see by the photo, I was thrilled to see the 1k hadn't started yet! So, I jumped right back in for the 1k, swimming it in 20 minutes and beating out another gal by 11 minutes to win the gold in the Women's 50-54 age group. :bliss: Mostly, I was relieved the water, at 85 degrees, was the coolest it had been for this event. And, the cloud cover stayed for the first 2k of my 3k swim. Somehow, I survived the warm water and HOT air and felt great on my swims; a HUGE swim happy for me, given my heat intolerance problems! :agree: :chug: to Rob Copeland for running a fantastic event! I'll be back next year! :banana: Congrats Elaine! That gives me a little more confidence that I can complete my 1.76 mile Longbridge Swim in Sandpoint Idaho in 3 weeks. I'm hoping for 70-72 degree water. Warmer would be nice too! ;)

... swam a 3k ... jumped right back in for the 1k ... Yowzer! Dudette, this and a 900 fly -- excuse me, 2000 fly -- the pool can no longer contain you! Well done!

Yowzer! Dudette, this and a 900 fly -- excuse me, 2000 fly -- the pool can no longer contain you! Well done! :lmao: Thanks, Swimosaur! I'll take "Dudette" (along with Ande's "Elaine-iaK") as a compliment! :smooch: I just finished a blog post about today: elaineiakstravels.wordpress.com/.../

Congrats Elaine! That gives me a little more confidence that I can complete my 1.76 mile Longbridge Swim in Sandpoint Idaho in 3 weeks. I'm hoping for 70-72 degree water. Warmer would be nice too! ;) Well...I'm going to "jump right in" and day of the event enter into the Steve Omi memorial OW swim tomorrow in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. :) It's a 1 miler, and the water temp on the internet is showing 72.7 degrees. A phone call to a friend over there has confirmed it, so here I go, swimming no wetsuit (since I don't have one anyway) :)

Congrats to you Elaine (and most likely James, at this point!!) Personally, I'm not so much "in" to open water swims, but I sure as heck would rather swim in 72 degree water rather than 85. We have a few springs & spring fed rivers near by that are 70-72 and they are quite do-able for about 3 miles, IMO - well, that's how long I can last!

Congrats to you Elaine (and most likely James, at this point!!) Personally, I'm not so much "in" to open water swims, but I sure as heck would rather swim in 72 degree water rather than 85. We have a few springs & spring fed rivers near by that are 70-72 and they are quite do-able for about 3 miles, IMO - well, that's how long I can last! Oh, I hear ya! Swimming open water in 70-72 degree water would be perfect! I grew up spending my summers swimming in 67-69 degree water, in Long Beach. As long as I keep moving, I can handle it that cool without a wetsuit. Unfortunately, the lakes around here get too darn hot in the summer! :censor:

Woohoo!! I did it! I'm an OW person now... :bolt: Yeah right! I swam a 1 mile race or so, who knows if the buoys were really accurate or not. Completed it, 6th overall out of 120 or so swimmers. 1st in my age group, and 1st among NON-wetsuiters (though they didn't score for wetsuit or no-wetsuit).