Picking up swimming again at Bally makes me want to reflect on how I became one of the few who choose this activity as part of their weekly workouts...
I've been swimming since before I can remember. And probably the only reason I can be sure of that is because my parents were avid video-tapers of my activities. The way I see it, I had a 50/50 chance of liking the water. My dad's family is all about swimming. According to my dad, my grandfather used to swim regularly in Boundry Bay with his five children. My two cousins were both captains of the swim teams in high school, and my ancestors were supposedly Pirates. Most of my mother's side of the family is deathly afraid of the water, which is odd considering they all grew up in Monterey, CA; inches from the Pacific Ocean.
My dad has a great respect for the water, which I have found is much different than my mom's fear. When we moved to Oregon when I was five, he signed me and my then two-year-old brother up for swimming lessons. According to the videos I've seen, I loved it (bro, not so much). My parents had to all but pull me from the water when it was time to leave. From there, we took swimming lessons every summer at the pool in our town. I used to loathe my dad for making me stop playing with my friends and do extra laps when we went to the pool for fun. I guess it didn't scar me too much. I never swam in high school, or on any swim team for that matter. I was busy with basketball in the winter, but looking back I wish I would have tried swim team instead; I was pretty fast.
I got a job at that same pool during the summers that I was in college. I started swimming laps for fun and after the summer was over, I realized how good it felt to be stronger (and thinner!). So, I started swimming in college. There were two pools at U of O-- one Olympic-sized pool in the main rec center and a smaller, older one in the old rec building. I made the mistake of marching into the main rec with my summer two-piece on. I'm sure it was not as dramatic as I remember, but I felt like I was met with stares from everyone who was SO hardcore in their speedos, swim caps and goggles. It only took one time for me to realize that this would be the pool that I would have to work up to. I swam in the old pool for many months, until I finally bought a swim cap, speedo and plunged like a pro into the new rec center pool to take my place among snobs.
I also took a swim class my junior year of college. It might sound super lame, one of the greatest moments of my life was when the instructor asked ME to demonstrate good technique for a drill. No one else, including the kids in the "best lane" (which, I'll admit was only one over from mine), had been asked after or before for the rest of the term, so I felt like a true pro.
Fast forward to Chicago in 2010 and you will now find me swimming up a storm at Bally after work on Wednesdays and Fridays. I love the feeling of gliding through the water, and clearing my head to focus on the feeling of each stroke. It's slow going now, but I'm determined to work back up to where I was, and hopefully get fit in the process! I know that swimming will be something that I can continue enjoy for my entire life.
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