Why this Site?

Me in Guam, April 2012

February 1, 2013. Hello and welcome to my personal swimming diary! That’s what this site is, and you might be wondering why I bothered.

I’m a complete novice to swimming. In fact, I’m such a newbie to the water that until last month I couldn’t even float on my back or stomach. I thought that by documenting my progress, I’d have ways to keep good track of how far I’ve come and make the necessary improvements.

After seeing the results of my latest medical exam I knew I had to make some major changes to my sedentary lifestyle. The first sport that came to my mind was swimming, partly because it was something my husband actually enjoyed as a form of recreation, and partly because I have, for a long time, always admired Olympic swimmers and their amazing feats in the water.

“They look fabulous! They swim so gracefully! I wish I could swim even just a little bit”, I would think to myself. So when 2013 rolled around I finally decided to learn how to swim at the ripe old age of 35.

As a middle-aged, unfit, overweight, physically uncoordinated woman with poor muscle memory, it is taking me a long time to learn the art and science of swimming. But I know I will “get it” one day. In the meantime, I’ll keep up this diary.

Perhaps someday, when I can finally swim a 1000m without tiring, all the posts about struggles and discouragement and “just not meant to swim” lamentations will actually become an encouragement to another middle-aged, unfit, overweight, physically uncoordinated woman with poor muscle memory who has finally decided to want to swim.

Side Note: About the Banner

On the top right of this site is an outline of a tortoise. A tortoise is well adapted to living on land, only approaching water to drink or bathe. That’s me at present!

In the future, I hope to change this to a turtle. Turtles have generally smaller legs than the tortoise and spend as much (or even more) time swimming in water as venturing onto land. A turtle has a much flatter shell than its land-loving cousin, making it more streamlined for swimming. I’d like to become a turtle soon!

Of course, the ultimate goal is the dolphin. But first, the turtle.

That means you can figure out how far I’ve progressed by looking at the top right of this site. Just thought I’d let you know 🙂