On Limits, and the Pushing Of

Tonight's swim workout (the last one):

300 warm-up

12 minute timed swim at race pace

6 x 100 fast

2 x 75 drill cool-down

Even as I was slicing back and forth in my lane, it was hard for me to believe that I really could

swim this far only ten weeks after those first, few horrible swims. I actually feel comfortable in the water instead of gaspy and panicky. I actually have a rhythm, sometimes, and feel soothed by the underwater quiet. When I finish, I feel tired but strong, not shaky and weak like I did at the beginning of July.

The weather forecast for Saturday doesn't look great: nighttime low of 54 degrees, and a 60% chance of thunderstorms. Thunder and lightening would mean cancellation, and I am going to be fairly devastated if I don't get to do this thing I've been working towards for most of the summer. I'll be disappointed, for sure. I'll probably flail around, trying to find another, similar-distance event in the very near future just so I can check this New Year's Resolution off for 2010.

But no matter the weather at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, what doesn't change is this: I set a goal, I worked toward it, and along the way I got to spend some bonus time with my best friend, meet a fun new group of people, and stretch and strengthen my body in new ways. I tried something new. I learned that I love the feel of speeding down a hill on a bike, of pushing myself along the road in a new way. I learned that I can swim, and that I can train my body to do something hard simply by practicing it over and over and over. I showed my daughters what it looks like when health and fitness are priorities, and that a mommy is often sweaty and smells bad but is also strong and determined.

I probably swam a mile total tonight, a distance that would have been completely impossible for me ten short weeks ago. I wonder what else I can do.