A Return

It was as much for the dogs as for me. They haven't been out of the backyard since squirrel season ended. Last year, training for the Chicot Challenge, Bear, Pee Wee, and me traveled often to the fish farm where I swam and they ran, sniffed, drank pond water, rolled in dead stuff, and chased birds. They love it out there and were so eager to go back that recently every time I climbed in or out of my truck, they cried like little babies begging to "go to the pond." They know that phrase. Wednesday when I asked if they wanted to "go to the pond," Bear started howling and Pee Wee began to run in circles. So we loaded into the truck and left. 

Bear trotting along while I ride the mountain bike.

As soon as we got to the fish farm, Pee Wee wanted out to run, but since we were going to a new pond, I made him stay in the cab. I had called David and asked him about a new pond. He told me to go to the ND ponds. To get there, just cross one ditch on Steelman Road past D10 which was my training pond last year. Before going there, however, I drove though the D ponds. Many of them are being re-pumped right now so my prospects of good swimming are sky high. He told me to swim any of the ND ponds except number 5. So when we got to the ND ponds, the first thing I did was drive around and look them over. I chose one, ND 9, parked, and let the dogs out. 

Who let the dogs out? I let the dogs outs.

Pee Wee out ahead running the
edge and chasing birds.

They were so very happy that it made me smile so wide I got bugs in my teeth. After unloading my mountain bike, I did some more looking around on it. The dogs, of course, followed along. Bear trotted at my side while Pee Wee ran ahead, ran from side to side, chased birds, sniffed, and just generally went wild. After a bicycle ride, we took a walk. On our walk, Pee Wee got so excited chasing birds that be began that desperate bark of his that literally made me laugh out loud. 

After the walk, we did another bike ride, then another walk, and finally I decided to swim test the pond. I always like to swim test potential ponds before I commit to one. You can tell a lot about a pond by swimming a single lap in it. You find the hot spots. In the spring you can find the cold spots. There are no cold spots in June. You can tell the fish load. You can even tell the turtle load. And of course, you can get an accurate measurement of the lap distance. All of that is important. I found out that this new pond candidate has a light turtle/fish load, and measure .61 per lap swimming. Not bad. I felt OK swimming, and I even think I picked up a gear.

By "gear" I mean the ability to swim at different speeds. When I first started getting coaching, Petya would mention gears. You swim the practice by gears. At the time, I only had one. Later, Cagri, our current Masters coach, loves the concept of gears. According to him, we are to consider ourselves five speeds, and he has us to swim in the various gears. When Cagri came along, I had all the gears. However, when I started back swimming last week after a ten month absence from the water, I only had one gear. Seriously. I swam five times last week, and yesterday in the pond, I discovered that I now have a second gear to go along with my first. There is a pretty tight gap between first and second, but at least I have a second gear now. The others will come back.

The dogs followed me as I swam. One time Bear even got in a swam a bit. He does that sometimes. Pee Wee doesn't seem to like to swim. He likes to wade, but he rarely swims though he do it well. I only swam a single lap (1,000 meters) but I am overjoyed to be able to do that. Thank you, Jesus.

When it came time to leave, Pee Wee wasn't ready to give it up. Bear couldn't wait to get into the truck and curl up on the back seat and sleep. I had to drive off with Pee Wee running wild. That dog. Once I finally did get the little turd into the truck, he cozied up to me and napped all the way home.

Driving home

We had a good time, and my shoulder is doing well. It is far from fully recovered. I still don't have my full range of motion, and I still have to stretch it a lot. But thanks be to God that I can swim.