So a lot of people ask me what I think about when I swim, particularly when I am swimming for LONG LONG distances. Most people imagine swimming that long and assume it would be boring, just staring at a black line for hours on end. It’s hard to explain to a non-swimmer, but after a while you don’t really notice the line. So most of the time there is like a CNN ticker going on in the background of my thoughts with my lap count, but then my mind just wanders while I swim. It’s the one time during the day when my thoughts are not interrupted my phone calls, emails or people in general. Swimming is my thinking time. Swimming is my therapy, how I work through things.
Today I swam 3,000 yards (I had done an hour of biking before swimming) and most of my swim I was thinking about what a stupid rule it is that you have to shower before entering the pool. Before I got in I was told (“lectured”) about how I need to be setting an example and showering before getting in the pool. Now, my dad has always called me stubborn (but on a side note there I bet EVERY long distance athlete has been called stubborn at least once or twice)….but I just couldn’t let it go while I swam. I mean seriously, just the sheer amount of time I spend in chlorine…I am probably the cleanest person that uses that pool. I would also argue that the showering that they require at pools really doesn’t make that much of a difference to the cleanliness level of the pool, proper pool maintenance and monitoring of chlorine levels does that. So…most of my swim today I was trying to come up with a constitutional argument as to why I should not be required to shower before swimming.
Then my thoughts tonight wandered to how nice it would be to have dinner cooked for me when I get home from practice. Then I reminded myself that I live with a dog and a cat, that thus far have not demonstrated the ability to cook. So I decided that a guy that cooks is the top qualification on my ideal boyfriend traits. : ) While swimming I also decided that another particularly good trait for my ideal boyfriend at this time would be one that enjoys fishing in the dark….mostly because I need to do some swimming in the dark and if I had a boyfriend who enjoyed fishing in the dark it would be a good match cause I’d have a spotter and he could catch fish….I suppose he could also enjoy kayaking in the dark…but there isn’t a catchy song with that title…so we’ll go with fishing in the dark. Then my reoccurring knot under my shoulder blade presented itself again and I added a third trait for my ideal boyfriend as one that gives good back massages. So there you have it…I am now accepting applications based upon those three standards (in addition to the normal things like no criminal record, not being psychotic, and a minimal amount of baggage).
So that, my friends, is an example of what I think about when I swim. My most productive practices are those where I am slightly irritated about something because I usually swim harder to take out frustration and the workout goes by faster because I am focused on the irritation.
In other news…and speaking of news. KAJ will be doing a follow up story on me next weekend. They did a wonderful job covering my swim of Flathead Lake last year and I also spoke with them about possibly sending their finished story to their affiliate stations in Washington to start the buzz about Lake Chelan over there.
Okay well-I’m tired…but remember send any guys who enjoy fishing in the dark my way! ; )
Goodnight!
~Emily
No comments:
Post a Comment