The first steps...

This is the first entry in a blog that follows my attempt to start a morning swim routine. I have always loved swimming and was on a summer swim team as a young teen.
Since then swimming has been something that I have loved but I have never pursued it methodically or seriously for health. I think I have swam 10 laps in 12 years.

That is all changing (I hope--I intend).

Yesterday was my first day swimming with the Hood River Master Swim team. The practice is each week day at 6am to 7:30. you can see by the practice time that there is more challenge here than just doing laps. It is still very dark at 6 am and is not getting any warmer as december is just around the corner.

It wasnt hard to get up the first day as I was excited and nervous about swimming in such an organized way and workout. My first contact with the living was in the locker-room and even there people were just coming alive. Out in the pool there were at least 20 swimmers getting in and warming up. On the deck the coach, Shea, and he made me feel right at home. There are about 8 lanes and the lanes are dedicated to the swimmer speed. The fastest swimmers are in the easternmost lanes and the slower swimmers are in the west. Shea put me in a lane with one other guy. The water was (relatively) warm and it felt good to get in.

I don't know how far I swam the first day. Maybe 15 laps. I wasn't able to keep up with the paractice and so I didn't bother. I just kept going to the best of my limited ability.

I left before the practice was done because I had to be home to help with the kids before my 8 am appointment at the middle school where I am the artist in residence.

I was an awesome feeling driving home at 7:15. I was tired for sure but to be so awake so early is a nice feeling.

I named this post the "first steps" because it has several meanings. By taking this on I am changing my sleep routine as well as taking on a course of exercise. The first steps out of bed on a cold dark fall moring feel as difficult as the last lap of practice.