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In this quest for 50 pools I have no shame in asking friends to let me swim at their clubs.  This time I imposed upon Coach Bella. She is a friend and fellow coach for the Tide. Along with her swimming prowess she is also an avid tennis player.  I was able to catch up… Continue reading #30: No shame…Wightman Tennis Club

#29 brings me to my first private home pool and to the Tocci’s residence. The Toccis are a swimming family and have been good friends since Ryan joined the Gators  over nine years ago. Francesca and Bianca are fast swimmers and were very helpful in the morning practice carpool from Bentley  to school. Noah has… Continue reading #29: 467 Wellesley Road, Weston, Ma

This years John Hancock Funds Summer Sales Meeting was at the Grand Floridan at Walt Disney World. The half day work session on July 22 gave me the chance to create that Disney Magic and find pool #28 at the YMCA of Central Florida in Orlando. The Y sat along the highway in a strip… Continue reading Magical #28-YMCA Aquatic Center of Central Florida

This years NLC was a MIT Masters Swim Fest. To my surprise Ryan decided to get up at 6:00am to ride with me to York, ME to check out the Light. It was also an opportunity to get out and do some long boarding. The 2.4 mile swim ended up being 2.8 miles via the GPS… Continue reading Nubble Light Challenge 2013

This weeks two new pools took me to the rarefied surroundings of the country club scene in suburban Boston. As I don’t frequent this circuit often I was careful about my swim suit choices so as not to shock the members or embarrass family and friends. The first pool was at Woodland Country Club in… Continue reading The Country Club Scene-#26 & #27

As I had blogged before we classed it up for the last two nights and stayed at the Cirigan Kempinski Palace Hotel. I had stayed there 18 years ago on a NASL trip on the Sea Cloud and it was great as I remembered. The property is beautifully set on a wide expanse of the… Continue reading Pool #25 Cirigan Kempinski Palace Hotel-Istanbul

The marquee event of this grand adventure turned out to be be even better than expected!!! After a big night at Galatasaray Island we checked into our Ottoman Sultan like hotel at the Ciragan Kempinski Palace Hotel. After a brief respite in our luxurious new surroundings we went to athlete accreditation at the park nearby… Continue reading 25th Bosphorus Cross Continental Swim

Pool #24 was quite the European scene. It was on Galatasaray island in the Bosphorus that was a gift for a Sultan or something like that. We got to the pool around 4:00 and I got in a quick 1000m. After that it was backgammon and lounging poolside. Techno music, tattoos and gold chains were… Continue reading Galatasaray Island Pool #24

Yesterday, I hit pool #23 and it was an awesome one. It was the Heybeliada Sports Club in the Princes’ Islands in Turkey.  I found it on line but little did I know it is a “members only” club. After being denied entrance with a feeble attempt to talk our way into the club, due… Continue reading Pool #23 and early race recon

While there hasn’t been any pool time we have been training with lots of walking around Istanbul. We had a full day tour with Taksim protester Derya Artan. She took us to the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Basilica Cistern and the Grand Bazzar (oh-and her favorite nagrile). Great sights and souvenir shopping. Capped off by… Continue reading Bosphorus Training…by touring