Heidi Klum declared on her AOL website that she was going to run every day of the summer. It is too hot here to run (at least for me) so I decided to swim every day of the rest of the summer. There is exactly one month left. Swimming is one of those activities that I loved as a child, but never really embraced as an adult, despite the fact that most of the places I have lived, have had pools. I think it was because I didn't want to change clothes and get my hair wet. When I thought about it some more, I realized this was kind of silly since I have to change clothes when I jog and can wear a shower cap to avoid getting my hair wet. I am inspired by women swimmers who are older, like Diana Nyad, who recently attempted to re-create her swim between Florida and the Cuba (at age 61!) and Dara Torres, who won a gold medal at the US Nationals, at age 40. Swimming is a sport you can continue as you age and is kinder to your body than pounding the pavement. Of course, the fact that you don't feel yourself sweating in the pool is also a plus in 90 degree weather.
I recently became Facebook "friends" with someone who was a former swimmer in High School. She looks great and guess what? She's still swimming. She said she still likes to compete, but unlike Diana, Dara or Lori, I don't have that pressure of having been a good swimmer. I am average, at best, have no idea if my technique is good and don't really care. I swam today for 20 minutes, no pressure and hope to continue every day for the next thirty days. Swimming feels like an active meditation (like yoga); it is freeing and exhilarating all at the same time. We'll see how it goes... And it was a little cold when I first got in, but as they say, once I got in there, the water was fine.
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