Dog paddeling

I just joined a local swim team in my area and had my first practice on Monday.

It was funny, but for the first time in awhile, I was actually nervous. I spent the hour and a half beforehand trying to suppress the butterflies in my stomach. I had visions of these tall, sleek swimmers gliding by me as I dog paddled.

In reality, I didn't have anything to worry about. Keeping up wasn't really the issue, it was keeping track of what I was supposed to do. The coach would stand at the head of the pool, hollering a string of lap sets: "200 free, four 50 IMs, 50 free, four 25 IMs..." I could usually only remember the first two, and even then, I would forget where I was. One time I actually did an extra IM, which is one lap of each stroke.

It felt good to be in the water, though, and the hour went by fast.

Lessoned learn: I know how to swim, I need to learn how to count.