Faithful readers (I mean, “hi mom and dad”!), I know things have been a bit quiet on the blog front as of late. With a goal of writing at least one a month I thought I would cut it close to the deadline and squeak one in on the last day of the month. While it doesn’t feel like a whole lot has been going on as of late there one thing I know for sure; I have been grinding in the water.
June started off with a week trip back to Boston to see friends and to well…swim with friends! It was great to get back in the water at the Wayland Community Pool. Timed perfectly as the pool was “topless” with the bubble taken off. It was so great to see everyone! Completely, just slipped back into the groove with hugs and playful banter in the deck and in the lane. Coach Jen’s workouts were awesome, per usual, and I hadn’t fallen that far behind.
Pam also opened the Pond up a bit early and with three doubles (pool/pond) I was able to get 5 pond swims in over the course of seven days~not too bad. I was also able to get some Pond People (you know who you are) to join me for some early season pond swimming. The water felt great and we capped off the week with a 3 hours swim in the Pond/Bayou followed by a fun brunch at Ben’s (great host). All told, for the week it was 6 days of swimming, 3 doubles, 5 pond swims, 38,000 yards and lots of smiles, laughs and hugs. Thank you all.
Back in Bend I am feeling like a regular at the Juniper Park Pool. The staff is beginning to know me by name and the regular lap swimmers and I now acknowledge each other on deck. I’ve found a group that I swim with a couple days a week. They are fit, wicked fast and I just hang on for dear life in practice.
This month also brought the opening of the Cascades Lake Highway and access to a myriad of lakes to explore aka lake bagging. First up was Elk Lake which I suppose will be my “go to” lake as it so close to home. I jumped in a couple of times this month and need to do it more. While it isn’t the ocean, I think the coolness and being in the open water must be good Catalina training in some way-at least I will tell myself that.
It was month of grinding and getting some good hay in the barn for Catalina. I swam 42 hours, 134,000 meters or 83 miles this month. There were 27 different sessions in pools and lakes this month, some double session days and a couple 3 hour/10k swims. I just need to remind myself that it’s the journey, not the destination. Taking the long view I am telling myself it is also a good way to meet some people…perhaps some new friends!
Goggle Reflections 