Sharing recipes, crafts and frugal living, the challenges and triumphs of parenting a neurotypical child and a child on the Autism Spectrum. Yoga Instructor said goodbye to her nightly glass of Chardonnay to give up habits that were not serving her purpose in life! The CocktailMom name remains, however with a new focus on healthy and authentic living.

7/02/2009

Green Lake Open Water Swim-Because I can't just go on vacation....


It may have something to do with my upbringing. I could blame my parents. They did call week long bike rides "family vacation" after all. Maybe it's just in my genes.
So as you know I went to Seattle and while there I planned to swim a one mile open water swim at Green Lake. The event is hosted every year by Seattle Parks and Rec. and cleverly called G.L.O.W.S
Have you figured out what it stands for yet?
There were about 100 people swimming the mile and as you can see from the picture many were wearing wetsuits. It was cold, so very cold. I brought my tri suit to swim in, but even that extra thin layer of fabric didn't help much. In the beginning of the swim I had a really hard time getting my breath under control. People were literally on top of me, got pushed under and swam over. Scary stuff. The water was so murky though that you really couldn't see the person next to you until you were right on top of them so I swam breaststroke. It took me about a quarter of a mile until my breathing became regular and I felt like I wasn't just breathing in my chest but actually deep in my lunges. I've been training for the Iron Girl Triathlon so I felt pretty confident starting this swim. When I'm out in the middle of this murky lake the battle of good and bad begins in my head. The internal monolgue...good:"you are doing great!"...bad:"seriously? breaststroke? Swim freestyle for God's sake!"
I started to really beat myself up mentally for swimming breaststroke. I'm a strong swimmer. While training in the pool I swim freestyle but once I put my head in and start freestyle in the lake I can't get my sense of direction together and I always end up swimming way off course and then getting totally frustrated with myself. I reached the half mile mark, rounding the corner I thought to myself...WTF who the hell cares if I DO swim breaststroke the entire time! It's not against the rules. I'm a really, really good breaststroker. So with that positive feeling within my soul... I took a deep breath, pulled that murky water away from my body and passed 5 people. Swimming strong. Reminding myself that I'm doing this..I'm finishing this strong.
So often we beat ourselves up over not reaching some far off expectation that we put upon ourselves when in reality we should be rejoicing in the feats that we have accomplished.
Drop kick that bad attitude and get back on course the best way you know how. The way that works for YOU!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you find out your time?
Love,
Mom

Whiney Momma said...

I hear ya girl. I am a runner, not a swimmer, but I could just imagine giving myself the same speech. Good for you for going for it...any way that is most comfortable for you!

Gretchen said...

did the mile in 19 minutes. pretty rockin'! :)

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