YMCA Quadrathlon

I have been swimming now for over 5 decades. I am both proud and astonished that I can say that. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been with the same Masters Swim Team for almost 17 years. We have an awesome swim coach who plans intra-Y swim meets so we can do some racing for fun and times. In the past, she has also hosted swims in Lake Travis to prepare us for open water swims. I have a couple on my list in hopes to do them before the end of 2027.

One of my earliest 'swim' memories was when I was around three years old. Our family spent most summer weekends at Lake of The Woods club in Ohio. We had an older mobile home that my dad added alternating bunk beds to accommodate all of us and added a wrap around porch for hanging out and eating meals that over looked the extra large fire pit. We were spending time by the pool as a family and I vaguely remember someone pushing me from behind into the pool. Since I didn't really know how to swim, I mostly remember seeing bubbles in front of my face. Quickly, a hand and arm appeared and pulled me from the water. My brother-in-law was the one who rescued me and as I wiped my eyes and tried to catch my breath, I remember that he was spanking his son, my nephew who happened to be my age, when he realized he was the culprit of the shove. It all happened so fast that I don't really remember being afraid, just the images of bubbles and his hand plucking me to safety.

The pool at Lake of the Woods:

When I was a few years older, I tried out for a swim team called the Dayton Dolphins. I remember during the 'tryouts' one of the coaches asked me if I could swim butterfly and I said, 'Yes' because I didn't want to disappoint him AND I wanted to swim on the team. Needless to say that my butterfly was not very good then, however I did learn it and now it is one of my favorite of the four strokes, at least when I am in good shape. I swam with the team for several years and remember swimming short course most of the year, but we would move to a 50 meter pool in the summers. In the summertime, we had a carpool and would meet at Dorothy Lane Market each weekday morning. We would go inside and buy donuts as breakfast before heading to the Xenia pool, about 30 minutes away. I ate two chocolate cake donuts almost every weekly summer morning for several years. It would be almost 15 years before I ate another donut after those summers but I did get back in the pool well before that.

Jump forward several years and I started taking conditioning swimming at UT, became a lifeguard, taught youngsters how to swim and even volunteered at local hospital in hydro therapy sessions. The sessions were so rewarding helping stroke victims, accident victims and more finding the support of the water help them learn to move and even walk better on dry land. Soon, I started the Masters Swimming program at UT but it only lasted a year or so before I moved out of state for three years. 

While I was swimming off and on for a few years, once I got back into it, I haven't really stopped. It has become an engrained habit. On my TOP 45 list, I had several swimming events, much like I have on my 60 list. I did a three mile open water swim in Inks Lake, a 1 mile swim in the Grand Caymans and a Three by Three racing event in Circle C. Having these events help me focus on a goal and create better habits around food, exercise and sleep. Some photos from the Three by Three. 

A couple of weekends ago, Coach Carolyn organized an Austin area YMCA swim meet. When it was initially announced, I hesitated to enter because a) I am not feeling exactly in the best shape and b) I didn't want to injure myself because I am pretty competitive, especially when I swim. I overcame the doubts and signed up to swim the 50 yard and 100 yard races, the same ones I swam last year. 

The outcome:

This year I swam the 50 yard freestyle and the 100 yard backstroke. Last year I tried to swim a 100 yard IM and sort of panicked and did a mishmash of strokes instead of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. Last year, I could tell I was struggling to breath well after the butterfly so after the backstroke, I swam the last 50 with freestyle and backstroke again to catch my breath. This year I decide that straight backstroke was the best idea and finished the 100 yard swim with a 1:22, not too shabby for my age group. My 50 freestyle was okay at 35 seconds and I hope by the end of the year to decrease that time along with being able to complete a 50 butterfly and a standard 100 IM (list recap below).

Time to build in some dry land to my schedule to build some strength and flexibility as well as different cardio to build endurance....

List Recap:

1. Masters Swimming race at 59 - Completed March 8 at the Y Quadrathalon 

2. Masters Swimming race at 60 - TBD

3. Train and swim a 50 butterfly - TBD (I suspect this will happen end of 2026 or in 2027)

4. Train and swim a 100 I.M. - TBD (I suspect this will happen end of 2026 or in 2027)

5. Highland Lakes Challenge - Fall 2026

*6. Pilates - Completed 3 months, will write about it soon.

7. Yoga

8. PVolve

9. Pure Barre

10. Bollywood Dance

11. Ballroom Dance

12. Salsa Dance

13. Make jam with/like Jamie in Chinon

*14. Notre Dame, Paris - Completed and will write about that, too.

*15. Banff Book & Film Festival - Went Nov of 2025, will write about it still.

16. Big Dress Photo Shoot - TBD

17. Garden with/like Alexandra Fasulo

18. Make a dress with/like Poppy Lu

19. Pickleball lessons

20. The Lost Kitchen - Maine

21. French Laundry - California

22. Chez Panisse - California

23. See the Redwoods - California

24. Oregon

25. Idaho

26. Hawaii

27. Alaska

28. Utah

29. Writing Class - Looking for one now

30. Painting Class

31. Photography Class

32. Brunch with/like Babs

33. Run for the Water - Fall 2026

34. Cap 10k - Spring 2027

35. Sprint Triathlon - 2027

36. Event at Red Rocks - Hopefully summer 2026

37. Sistine Chapel visit

38. Grand Cayman Open Water Swim - Summer 2027

39. Sample 60 Cuisines from 60 countries

40. Universal Yums - 6 months amended, ordering soon.

41. Write book

42. Chautaqua Institute

43. The Artist's Way

44. Galveston Diet Eating

45. Brightline Eating

46. Vegetarian Eating

47. Pescatarian Eating

48. Power Lift class

*49. 60 to 60 Blog - Ongoing

50. Miracle Morning - need to restart

51. F45

52. Show at The Sphere in Vegas

*53. Read 1 book per month, Since August, I have read Project Hail Mary, Incredibly Remarkable Creatures, Tom Lake, Horse and the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, The Which Way Tree, Gisele Pelicot, Shame Has to Change Sides - A Hymn to Life. (a little behind on books...sigh)

54. Paddle boarding 

*55. Food Tracking - ongoing, will restart after Paris (ate more cheese, chocolate, bread and drank more wine than I typically do in a year!)

56. Go to a country I have never visited

57. Think of and eat a Last Meal like Mythical Kitchen

58. Order and eat Hot Ones like Sean Evans show

59. Palo Duro Canyon

60. Snowmobiling