Point and Laugh

On Saturday morning, I took Jack to his first real swimming lesson. And by real, I mean, he is really learning how to swim, not just being a happy baby splashing in the water while I sang "Wheels on the Bus."

We arrived at the pool ready to go, and the teacher informed me that I would not be getting in the pool with Jack. I had assumed that I would be, given that (1) he can't swim and (2) he is too short to stand up in the shallow end. Apparently, I was the only parent who made that assumption, which also meant that I was the only adult there wearing a swimming suit.

Yeah.

And to make matters worse, we grown-ups did not get to sit on the side of the pool to watch, but rather had to sit out in the lobby.

You ever feel self-consious in a swimming suit? Well, imagine that you are also the only one who is NOT fully dressed. And that you are not sitting next to a pool.

Since changing into my real clothes was not an option (we needed to be there to watch in case the kidlets should need us), I decided to just adopt the proper attitude. As in, "Yeah, catlickers. I'm wearing my swimming suit. And I look freaking hot, don't I? Go ahead, take a good look. Can you tell I'm a marathoner? By the way, nice shorts. I can see you're really getting your money's worth out of that elastic waistband."

My FIRST Attempts

Since I've officially decided to use FIRST to train for the Quad Cities Marathon, I am going to have to do something I really don't want to do. That is, incorporate cross training into my workout.



I kicked things off on Monday by going to the pool to run some laps. Let me begin by saying that I looked fantastic. I had on my sportiest looking swimming suit - a solid navy blue tankini (Tankini: The Official Swimwear of Moms Trying to be Cute), a new swimming cap, and goggles. I totally looked the part.

Then, I quickly discovered something. You guys, swimming is really catlicking HARD. Who knew you could sweat so much while in an indoor pool? My routine was to swim a lap, gasp for breath for 15 seconds, do a kickboard lap, gasp for breath for 15 seconds, and repeat.

I was almost finished when an old man in a speedo got into the lane next to me. He had hip problems that caused him to limp, but once he got in the pool, he proceeded to completely kick my ass.

Nevertheless, I'll keep at it. I will concede that I see the science behind cross training, and I do want to get to the starting line injury free. And if I have to take out Oldy McSpeedswimmer Tonya Harding style along the way? So be it.