Meter Mania

43,900 meters. One more day. Hmmm. Should I go for 50,000?

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So, I swam 3,200 meters at 6am today, just to get things going. That leaves, yep, 2,900 meters to achieve the mystical 50,000 meters.  It's an arbitrary goal I wouldn't have even considered had I not totaled up my meters on Sunday for the month and saw I was close to, well, 50,000.  

It's Meter Mania at PCA this month
If you are trying to find my numbers in the photo, it's kind of hard because I am showing the names associated with the second column, and cut off my name on the far left.  Look for Josh L on the right, that's my row.  The top number I show is how many meters I did for that day, and under that, I put my total in for the month.  You can see I did 4,000 meters on Sunday, with my good buddy Rich E.  He's on pace to complete 200,000 meters as of today.  That is A LOT of meters.  Maybe the most of anyone at the club.  Something like 150 people signed up for Meter Mania.  I would guess I may be in the top 10.  I am not sure.   The other thing you might notice about my row above is, there's a bunch of blank days.  Those are days I didn't swim, first because I was in Barcelona for a week, and then in Tahoe for 5-6 days.  I think I missed 14 days out of a short month. 

For more background and previous years on Meter Mania at PCA, click here.

The Challenge
So, my challenge to myself and you.  I will swim again today, 100 meters for every follower I have.  Those who are already following, I have you covered.  The problem is, that only gets me to 2,700.  I need two (2) more followers to accomplish my goal.  See where you come in?  Over on the right, click on follow.  It's real easy.  If it seems confusing, just guess, you'll be right.  No, you won't get extra emails or anything.  You are just part of the cause, and I thank you!

Jib Jab
I made 50,000 meters.  I also had two firsts yesterday.  First time for swimming twice in one day, the 6am workout and the 6:45pm workout. That's kind of pushing it, because I have done consecutive swims on the Saturday workouts, and have on several occasions done all 3 Saturday workouts, but the nuance is, I don't have to get out of the pool between workouts on Saturday.

The other first is an interesting one.  
First time to do the evening workout.  I would say I am not a night person, and say it without too much conviction, but the data is, well, fascinating (to me).  I have been swimming masters for about 15 years, mostly at PCC.  PCC has about 20 different workouts a week.  I have done all of them many many times.  Except the evening ones.  Lots of times, I've said to myself, okay, well, I missed my regular but will go to the evening one, and it just never happens.  I've even arrived at the gym, looked at the evening practice, but didn't get in.  Kind of weird when I think about it.  None-the-less, I broke the ice yesterday, and did the evening workout.  Actually, the drama continues.  I only needed another 750 meters when I started with them, so I only finished the first set, 400 meters more than I needed, but I got out after that.  :-)  Another first still available.  The whole evening workout.  I love a challenge.

5 Corners, Rocky Ridge, Willow Camp Ride on Mount Tam

This was an end-of-January ride I did with my buddy Chris.  My first day back in the saddle after a too long sabbatical.  The weather made it fun and interesting.  We started with some overcast at the bottom, and as we progressed up Mount Tam, it kept getting colder and colder and wetter and wetter, and on the top it was coming down in a steady stream, which, you can't see all that well in the photos.  We were soaked through by the time we rolled into Stinson, an awesome ride, as usual!

I was going to try to document the ride, all the trails we went on.  It's been a few weeks, so I am asking my readers, please help recollect this ride.  We started at Java Hut in Fairfax, to 5 Corners, to Rocky Ridge, around Lake Laganitas and the other lake, named something.  Up top, there is something Dell, and then down into Stinson, single track, Willow Camp.

Okay, I also include a little expose on Oliver.  He's Andre's son.  3?  And then, yes, Ellie. and Stinson.

100 posts later... 2,500 unique visits, 24 followers Thank You!

Moira is 18!

It's all part of life's rich pageant. 
On a whim, I wanted to see what was entailed in creating a blog, so, I went ahead and made one. 
We were doing the garden, so it's the san carlos garden.  I made a few posts, and said, okay, that's what it is.  I stopped until Sarah came home for the holidays, and we started cooking, and baking.  Sarah got me going with recipes on blogs, and we really had fun with it, laughing and giggling about all the comments, especially those along the lines of "This is the best recipe ever!  I just used milk for cream, and almonds for walnuts, doubled the cinnamon, and nutmeg, and cut the butter with sour cream... but I loved this recipe!"  I'm laughing just thinking about it, partly because it's funny, partly because that's what we were doing!  So, I started blogging on that.  And, I started noticing formats, styles, and so on.  It's really cool!

Steel cut oatmeal, roasted hazelnuts, pears and sliced banana with milk and brown sugar

So, all the fun online, led to more cooking, and more photos of food.  More posts led to more visits and more visits inspired more posts.

Sculpture granite and ceramic by Tony Stanzione decorated for Christmas Greenwood Village, Colorado

The metrics
And then there are the metrics.  How many visitors, repeat, and unique, and where they are from, city, state, country, continent.  And which posts got the traffic?  It's all really cool, and exciting and interesting and motivating, and just plain fun.

The comments
Okay, it's really all about the comments.  It's really fun to get feedback.  You never know how something impacts someone, so hearing a little bit, it's such a charge to hear from you.  So, if you ever wonder, add a comment.  You'll make my day.

Sarah and Lauren at Nan's

Thank You!
So, I know.  What? Why?  How do you have time?  I don't get it?  I know. I know.  It really is about connecting with you.  I get so much energy from others.  Which is selfish.  It's true, and, I know how much I enjoy other people's writing, so thanks for sharing back. 

So, I'm looking for topics, improving my photography, my writing, and growing our community.  We just crossed 24 followers, which is awesome.  I also crossed 2,500 unique visitors.  And all the countries of visitors!  US of course, a big band of cities from West to East coast.  There's my family, on both coasts, and Denver.  Sarah at school gives me comments, which I love...and Kirsty, who keeps up too... thanks Goose and Kirsty and then breaking out to others, like my buddy Jennie in Seattle, another who does comments... Thanks Jennie.  And then new friends in Germany and France, Australia, and on and on and on.  I've been writing about swimming lately, and got a comment from a friend who said she was inspired to start swimming again, and another friend sharing my recipes with his family... it's all good.

So thanks to all of you.  You inspire me.  Let me know your thoughts and ideas.

Tim, Dad, Dan golfing Dec 27th, Denver

It's February Meter Mania! Yahoo!

The Board:  Tracking our meters in the pool.

It's Meter Mania month!  We just finished Fitness Olympics, which was right after the triple crown, and without a day in between, we are into Meter Mania at PCC.  What is meter mania, you ask?  It's a quirky little annual event we do, as you guessed, every February!  As it turns out, it's not just us at PCC involved.  I believe it's a national thing.  I heard at the pool the other day, one of our members was #3 in the country for meter mania.  I don't want to even guess how far he went, but apparently it was a noteworthy celebration.  So, what we do during meter mania is count how many meters we do every day, and put it on the board.  Sound fun?  NO!!  Is it? well, yes! Strangely, it's a blast!

Jib Jab
I am not big on new year's resolutions and all that kind of thing.  Don't get me wrong, I like goals, and think they are important, but somehow, new year's resolutions seem doomed to failure.  I heard most people have one or more of the following goals.  Lose weight, get in shape, or improve their finances.  As it turns out, when asked, over 2/3rds say, they did not achieve their goal.  Anyways, there it is.

Having said that, I like meter mania.  Essentially, it takes it down to the minute by minute minuscule decisions we make every day.   Oh, the board, yes, I think I will do a couple extra meters today.  Or, I will skip the hot tub and start early today to get some extra meters.  And so on.  Pretty soon, those microscopic decisions change your direction.  They make a difference.  The silly little board does it.

Double Jib Jab
Interesting question.  On New Year's day, I was at the beach with family.  I wasn't there for the last leg of the Triple Crown.  So, unwritten protocol says, you can make it up.  Even in the next week or two.  Well, I got sick, and was traveling, and well, didn't get to making up the last leg.  So, it's February now.  So, yesterday, I swam 10,700 meters.  Yep, 10,700.  That's closing in on 7 miles.  How long does that take?  It depends on how you do it.  What I did, is started at the 6am workout, then did the 715am workout, and then the 830am workout.  When all was said and done, I did some additional laps between workouts, and finished the last workout with 10,000 meters!! Sweet!!  You know how your mind sets the goal, and your body can get you to THAT finish line, and no more?  I did that.  I was done, done, and done, but my buddy Rich joined me through the whole thing!  What a guy!!  So, actually, he arrived a little later than me, so he wanted to get another 750 meters after we were finished.  So, I said, okay, I will too.  I was tired, but if I started slow, I figured I could settle into it.  So, I follow him, and pretty soon he is pulling away from me, but I think we can circle up the next time he stops.  Well, after 650 meters, he hasn't stopped, and he lapped me!  So, I fall in behind him again, and 100 meters later, I am done.  10,700 meters! Yahoo!!

Is that double dipping?
I know.  Those who were paying attention, caught that.  I finished my Triple Crown 10,000 *and* counted those same meters in Meter Mania.  Is that fair?  Am I cheating?  Some would certainly say yes, but I say no.

Tell me what you think....!

Here's why I say no.
You know that feeling when you say, yes, I will make that up.  I owe you.  Next time on me, and you have the best intentions, but never quite get to it?  Yes, I already have my Triple Crown apparel I sport, but how can I wear it, knowing I didn't finish?!?!  I know, so much controversy.  Anyway, there it is, those little micro-decisions playing a role.  Meter Mania did help me finish Triple Crown.

The moral of the story?
It's all good.