Age: 5

On Saturday, I went to the Fairmont Hotel and got a week pass so that I can use their swimming pool. It’s a gorgeous hotel, with a gorgeous health club and a great 50ft long pool. The locker rooms have towels in them (as many as you wish) and the walls in the pool area are painted with a lovely (albeit slightly creepy) mural of ancient Rome and/or Greece. I put on my goggles and got in the pool, relieved that the only other people in the area were some elderly men using the hot tub. They left shortly after I began my laps, which was good because it only took me about 3 times back and forth to realize that I needed to do something drastic.

So, I got up and grabbed a kick board. Yes, that’s the thing you used when you were 5 to make sure you didn’t drown while you learned to swim.

Embarrassing? No, not at the time. Embarrassing now that I’m admitting it in a blog? Uhh… I can see your eyes widening with disbelief as you fear for my safety and I can feel your hearts melting with pity and embarrassment for me, as I won’t admit my own.

Although I prayed most of the time that no one else would come in to witness my interesting form of “swimming,” I have to say that I actually enjoyed it. It was more relaxing than running (perhaps because Kanye West wasn’t blasting my ears) or maybe there is something really soothing about water. I mean, a 4ft deep swimming pool is immensely different than the bottomless pool of stench that is the Potomac, but perhaps I can learn to love water beyond its hydrating benefits. I didn’t have to get out and take 5 minute long breaks, in fact I didn’t take more than 1 or 2 minutes ever, and while I certainly wasn’t fast or consistent (and it might have been cheating to use a kickboard), I did manage to go for about 45 minutes.

Main questions:
1. What are your hands supposed to be doing when you’re doing free style? Sounds dumb, but are you supposed to kind of cup them? Leave them open? Spread your fingers?
2. Is your body supposed to form a straight line or does it matter that my legs kind of sink down into the water (hence the use of a kickboard)?

What I’ve found from running and doing any sport is that you first have to learn how to do it the right way. Once you’ve perfected how to do it, how to handle it, how to survive it, and how to do all that the right way, you can take whatever the “right” way is of doing it and make it your own. I’m not looking to win Olympic points for my grace or agility; I’m looking to finish. So whatever way I can learn to do it that works best for me, I will learn it and tweak it. It really works with anything, not just sports. First learn the proper and standardized way to do it and once you’ve perfected that, flip it over and do it the way it works for you.