Swimming Aquatic Park, San Francisco

I couldn't help but stop for this bumper sticker.  I've been struggling with the ups and downs of life lately, and knew it would be hard to get back in the water, and knew I needed to.  Here I am, just before 8 am Sunday morning with a couple of my swim gang headed over to the South End Rowing Club for a splash in Aquatic Park.  Where's that?  It's directly in front of Ghiradelli Square, looking towards Alcatraz.  It's just on the end of Fisherman's Wharf, at Hyde St Pier, down the block from the famous Buena Vista bar, where you can get the most famous irish coffee in the world.

Here's Aquatic Park, and just behind the tall ship, you can see Alcatraz.  What you can't see to the left is some low concrete bleachers and to the right, in front of the tall ship is the South End Rowing Club next to Hyde St Pier.

Here's my gang today.  A special bunch of guys.  Bunk, in the middle is one of our mid-western boys, about 75, and for the life of me, I can not catch him in the water.  That's my coach, Mike, to the right, and Fernando to the left.  Mike is an amazing fount of coincidences.  He knows everybody.  He remembers everyone.  He connects people.  It seems like he hardly talks, but is so easy to approach and chat with.  Simply, he enriches lives.  Lots of them.  Almost secretly helping us get closer to the people we want to be.  That's Fernando on the left.  A happy young man, who took up swimming and has lost I don't know.  I'll say 50 pounds?  That's our white van.  Mike makes coffee.  We meet at PCC in Redwood City at 7am.  Jump in, and away we go.  No muss, no fuss.

There's history for ya.  Oozing out of every corner of the SERC est 1873.  Imagine San Fran in 1873.  A couple decades after the gold rush.  A couple decades before the great earthquake of '06.  And here we are.  Using the same frigging club those early San Franciscans did.  Obviously, a lot of rowing goes on, as well as boat building, and quite a bit of swimming.  That glow in the back is looking out the back to Aquatic Park.

That's the locker room upstairs.  It's pure history.  You can almost feel the bodies from a century ago, meandering around telling jokes, and getting ready for a swim in the bay.

Post swim.  On the pier in front of SERC.  The blue and white building is the Dolphin Club.  I've never been in there.  It looks like it's got similar history.  These are the two I swam with.  Karen and Bunk, both swam my a*@ off.  At least Karen waited for me!  It was a great day.  Water temp was the warmest I've ever run into in the Bay at 63 degrees, totally flat, with a pretty strong flood current.  We did the big loop, inside the park, I would say about a mile.  I should have added to it, but Karen got out, and so did I, and I just couldn't quite get myself back in.

Jib Jab with Tim

I'll point out a couple things in this picture.  You can see a zodiac out there watching swimmers come in.  Between the dock and the Zodiac, you can see a neon orange swim cap of a swimmer in there.  In the middle of the picture is a new friend, I just met after the swim, sort of by accident.  I'd heard a terrible story about a local swimmer who did this amazing 9 mile swim from island to island in Hawaii. There was an organized relay event to swim across, and this guy swam the whole thing himself.  The horrible part of the story happened after 6 hours plus of swimming, he's about 200 yards from the shore, now able to see the sand on the bottom of the ocean, and some guy wasn't paying attention and had his boat in the finish area.  After much prompting to move, the boater finally gassed his engine, and John got pulled in by the prop, taking off his right arm and half his left hand.

Karen (on his left) knows him from Half Moon Bay.  She started telling me who he was, as I was asking him to take the picture above this one(see his coat sleeve bottom left?).  I saw his thumb bandaged, but didn't think my instant camera would be a problem, and less than a second later, as I reached out with my camera, I realized he didn't have a right hand and not much of an arm.  Before I could feel completely uncomfortable, he says, in the most positive way; I think I can do this, but if not, you can try someone else.  He's got two fingers that work on his non-dominant remaining hand.  His 'thumb' is actually built from a chunk of bone from his hip, that's still healing.  He takes a second picture because he notices he has his sleeve in the picture.  Boom.   Done.  Perfect pic.  So, instantly, the uncomfortable is gone.  He's talking like we're old friends, and all the tragedy he's lived through, that's changed his life dramatically, and so many others, is, well, just a part of life.  He's talking about his bone is infected.  He's working on getting some really cool prosthetics, if he can work with the insurance company.  All like it's just a part of life.  Wow.  I'm in awe of his spirit.  Feeling blessed to be standing next to him, and having a conversation.  He's inspiring.  

It wasn't 4 sentences in until he got to talking about how it all works swimming.  He's back in the pool. He says he doesn't have any catch with his hand, and he's talking about fixing his hand so he can swim.  I'm thinking, and trying to stay in the conversation, wait, what?  You swim?  You've got no arms, dude.  That does not compute!

And then I'm reminded of the bumper sticker above.

John, first time swimming, after.

John's story.

He calls it life after 615.  The 615 is 6hours 15 minutes, which is how long he swam before he hit the boat, and changed his life forever.  Everyone says he was an awesome guy before.  I didn't know him then, but I wonder if he's even more awesome now.

Saturday workout PCC

This was the 3rd Saturday morning workout at PCC Master's.  I swam the one prior, at 7:15am in lane 6, the farthest right.  It's my least favorite due to the wall, along over half our lane.  It's not forgiving, if you drift in your lane a bit.

It was a fast fun day.  I even kept up in the 2:50 200M  and the 100 M at the end of the workout, I held a good 1:20 pace, without draft.  A nice workout!  And, great to see Damon and Bill in the pool.  Damon's not been swimming much, but still had good speed, at least compared to me.

Jib Jab
I have been missing the Saturday workouts.  Mostly 'letting myself off' instead of having something else going on.  Bill said he's working on improving his speed too, and said adding 5000M on Saturday is helping.  I'm going to give it a try, although I got in about 3300M today.

PCC new landscaping

Finally, we are re-landscaping our backyard, so I've been trying to notice gardens I like.  This one is subtle, but nice.  I like it.  Why?  I am not totally sure.  It's simple.  Nice vegetation.  Not over filled or sparse.  Contrasting colors.  I like the spiky guys, and the little variegated bush.  It's got a little purple flower on it now.

Goal: 300 Meters - 4:00 minutes

I love this photo.  This is getting to the pool, for the 6am workout a couple days ago.  It's a little eerie, a little daunting, and a downright blast to be swimming in the dark, as the sun starts coming up.  The colors are outrageous.  The whole thing is a comfortable transition from not being able to see, and focusing inward, to gradually adding spectacular saturated colors, to the white light of the day.  It's a beautiful way to start the day.

4 minute 300
It's also how I've been feeling about the 4:00 minute 300M.  It just sounds daunting!  It's not a little challenge.  It's, well, I don't know how I'm going to do it challenge.  I had a workout the other day where I was leading the lane, and feeling particularly strong, fast and comfortable.  We were doing 300's and I came in on 4:45!  Everyone in the lane had a comment about how fast we went.  I felt great too.  Glenn even said it's the fastest 300 he's done.  Ever. 

Then I thought about the 4 minute challenge.  Dang!!!  Unfathomable!  I ended up swimming a 4:30 300.  A stellar benchmark for me.  A super strong swim for me.  In fact, a 1:25 100 is a super fast 100M for me.  So, how in God's green earth...  And yes, why? is another question altogether.  How to get to the 4 minute 300?

Get in.  Go back and forth
So much of the challenge is, get in.  Get going.  Swimming a 1:20 pace per 100 is something I've only done when sprinting my fastest 100's ever.  The fastest I've ever done in my life is about a 1:17 100.  So, I'm working on it.  Yesterday I swam 50's as hard as I could.  Feeling how fast fast is, for me.  I swam a 37 second 50.  Dang.  I didn't know I could do that.  Sweet!  :-)  Makes me happy.  And, I can see the sun coming up. It's starting to clear, what I need to do.  No question.  Still a long way to go, but I'm starting to envision what it will take.

Sun coming up

Oak at PCC, after the morning swim

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.

Get In, Go Back and Forth

Yesterday was just another day at the pool.  Sometimes the easiest things seem hard.  Sometimes I am just not up for anything.  So, as much as I wanted to just recover, relax and take it easy, I showed up.  I rationalized, okay, take it easy, stretch out, lay low.  But no, Mike put me in the fast lane, with two fast-ies, and no where to hide.  So, I just closed my eyes, and went as fast as I could.  Each time, falling further and further behind.  Afterward, I told my lane-mate, thanks, you really pushed me.  She surprised me, saying, "I wouldn't have done it myself, without you in the lane."

When I first got to the pool, I ran into an old friend.  It was great to see him, and then I found out he just lost his job.  "Let's have coffee, okay?"  Not even a minute later, I see another friend, much younger, I hadn't seen for a while, Kent.

Whenever I see him, he reminds me of when he pushed me to my ultimate capacity and beyond.  He just gives me energy.  I talked him into swimming instead of the weight room.  He seemed really hesitant, and most of the work out, he was hanging on the wall.  I thought about what he does for me, and after seeing him hanging, I shouted, GO!  He was still on the wall.  After a couple more laps I said, come on,  you're in, now just go back and forth!!   He did swim a few laps.  He's fighting cancer, and doesn't have the strength he had, when he played water polo.  He said it's been hard lately.  I think it's the first I have heard him say it's hard.

As I was leaving, I didn't realize all that was going on behind the scenes in my mind, and there was Bob.  My longest running swim buddy.  He missed the workout, and was just showing up.  He said he was visiting his mom.  He told me before, she was sleeping a lot.  Listening to him, it finally dawned on me.  She's 92.  She's not interested in eating.  She doesn't like to get up.  She can't really hold a conversation.  He said the nurse told him, there's not much more we can do.

I could see Bob's eyes welling up, which shocked me.  See, Rob is John Wayne*.  Same size.  Same personality.  Same age.  Solid, stable, always sees things in perspective.  Always positive.  *Okay, with one exception - Bob loves to talk.  Almost as much as me.  That said, somehow I didn't know what to say.

So?

Mike, my coach, knows everyone.  The friendliest guy on the planet, says hi, and doesn't foist himself on you.  Knows everyone's name, and their stories.  He has doubled the size of our team, in his quiet attractive way.   I used to think I wanted a coach who told me exactly where I could improve, what I was doing wrong, and how I could get better.  I love Mike, but never really totally appreciated Mike's coaching style.  His tips for me, are the same as for everyone else.

Get in, go back and forth.

I can add, as long I you can.   It's important for me, and as much as I need others, they need me.