Just when I thought I was done with buoyancy, it came up again yesterday, surprisingly.

I made it to the pool in the early hour, and found myself alone in the deep end pretty early into my set. One of the two people who had been swimming in the deep end when I got there had left a pool buoy and a kickboard beside the pool when she left.

Having read…

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I remember driving across town and seeing the bike trails at the side of the road. I imagined the mystery awaiting me at the end of those trails…I couldn’t wait to take my bike out and explore them.

But when I took my bike on the trail? I was just riding my bike. On the street.

After a certain point, all this triathlon stuff is starting to look like a workout. An INTENSE workout, but a workout, nevertheless.

I guess it had to happen sometime, that as I actually worked on…

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My son said that he didn’t think the Rangers had a water training segment to deal with. He wasn’t exactly correct, but the Ranger water training doesn’t involve swimming long distances, just braving cold, dirty water in full gear.



By far, the hardest struggle is psychological. After going through the grueling obstacle course, the rangers in training roll through muddy water. Then they crawl while rolling through the freezing muddy water. (The air temperature is 56 degrees and… Continue

My story about a friend's experience at the beach sent chills through my daughter, and she questioned whether she really wanted to be a lifeguard. But she went through the training anyway, and my daughter was a lifeguard for 2 years at the Y. Now she's moved onto a different phase in her life, involving glamor and beauty.



This weekend, we went to the family reunion together, and I thought I'd take the babies… Continue

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It does seem like a stretch for Food Network to combine Survivor and Chopped, but hey, why not? I was happy to give it a try.

When I tuned in, three chefs had to swim out to a spot in the cold body of water, catch a fish, (which had already been trapped for them), and then get in a boat and row back to a cooking station.

While the two non-black chefs gamely dove in and tried their hand at the aquatic challenge, the black chef chose to stay on shore and add 5 minutes to his…

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Last summer, the big swim news headline was the Valley Club of Philadelphia kicking black kids out. This summer, it was the group of Shreveport kids who drowned in a public park.



One was about denying access to swimming; the other was the fruit of lack of access.



The Philadelphia incident had several… Continue

I remember putting my second born, as a fearless 3 year old in swim lessons for the first time. He stayed at the edge of the pull, threatening to fall in at any minute. His swim instructors were young girls who couldn’t even pronounce his name properly. As an observer from across the room, I was helpless to keep him safe. I wanted to scream, “WATCH MY BABY! CAN’T YOU SEE HE’S ABOUT TO FALL IN THE POOL ANY MINUTE?!!!”



And I am a swimmer.



It would be too much if I couldn’t… Continue

So we were invited to a birthday party today. It was an outdoor party, held at a camp. I knew they were going to swim, but with basketball, archery, and other activities, I didn’t expect to find anyone in the water for long. We were running late, I didn’t have my teenage helpers, I had just gotten my hair done, so I’d decided my kids wouldn’t swim.



Easier said than done. All the other kids were splashing around in the water. My children were soon discontent with just wading. The baby… Continue

My daughter has been lifeguarding rather than teaching lately. I have been swimming during part of her shift lately, but yesterday I just dropped her off and picked her up. When I arrived to pick her up, I pointed out the lifeguard to my 6 year old son. We noticed that she was a different girl. I was looking around trying to find my daughter when my son said, "There she is!" And sure enough, my daughter was in the water, teaching a lesson.



She was excited, because lifeguarding makes… Continue

Remember High School dances? There was no learning the dance at the party. If you didn’t already know before you got there, you were sorry. You had to step…

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