2019 Lineup

I always like to look at a lineup of planned events at the start of each year. For the upcoming year, all I have is swimming contests since my running is once more on the rocks. I do hope to get my running back to some extent. But for now, all I have on my "Plan to Do" list is swimming.

First up is the the Senior Olympics on the coast sometime in late April and early May. I knew nothing about this until Gloria Hathcock told me about it while we were chatting in the indoor pool at Twin Rivers. The seed she planted sprouted immediately, and I went home and started googling. They don't offer any long swimming events. The longest race listed is 500 short course yards. But I am super excited about getting involved. I have never competed in a pool meet before, with the exception of a couple of triathlons that held their swims indoors. But I have never done a swim meet. Speaking of meets, I may look into some USM (United State Masters) events which also uses an age-group format. Besides the 500, if scheduling allows, I might also swim the 200 and maybe even the 100 and 50. I am definitely not a sprinter, but just for the experience, I might swim every free style solo event they offer. 

Of course the Chicot Challenge is on the calendar for June 1, the day before my 63rd birthday. After doing six Challenges, last year I had to watch while some of my friends swam in my place. It was fun working the other side of an open water swim, but I wanted in the lake, I missed the effort, the challenge. Now I am on the road back after the worst injury of my swimming life. This time I am only planning to swim 12 miles. Though long, that is a whole lot shorter than the 20+ I did for For Chicot V and VI.

I won't be able to do the whole Heart O' Dixie Triathlon (last Saturday in July), but I have an invitation to swim for a good athlete, and we have a real shot at winning the rely division. The swim there is only a half a mile, but the kind of training I will have to do for that is something that will be good for me. Speed and VO2 max is what that kind of swimming is all about. That entails some serious pool pounding, the kind I am reticent to do without a strong goal. With the Senior Olympics in mind, I have already started working on speed and the kind of sets that make a pool swimmer. 

I did Gator Bait once several years back and won my age group. But I have not been back, and it is not to my credit that I haven't. We have virtually no venues for open water competition around here so I should support the one open water race that we have in the state. The longest event there is one mile, but if it is still done the way it used to be, I can compete in more than one distance. Then there was a half mile followed by a quarter mile all following the miles swim. To do them all at the kind of effort required at those distances will be a real workout. I think this comes off in May so there might be a conflict with the SOs. If so, I will go to the coast and do the Olympic thing. I'd like to do both.

After doing Swim the Suck four years in a row, I dropped that event when I no longer could afford to make the trip. The lack of raises on my job and the slow, steady impact of inflation, made the Suck untenable to me a few years ago. Now that I have my wife's truck paid for, I can once more afford to make the trip. Not only that, but Randy Beets' trash talking on Facebook and his mother's snide comments have convinced me that he needs a good whipping at the race that started it all for him and for me.

I wrote the preceding paragraph a few weeks back. Since that time, I have rethought the Suck. I contacted my old nemesis, Randy Beets, about renewing our rivalry at the Suck, which he has falsely accused me of ducking him in for the last few years. He told me about a new swim coming up in North Carolina, Best Dam Lake 5K, 10K, and 15K Swim. This looks like a beautiful lake and a new challenge. Since the 15K is only a relay event, I will most likely opt for the 10K. Somehow that appeals to me right now more than the 10 miles of the Suck. It is still a pretty long swim, but not an all day affair. This event is set for mid July and my wife and I are already planning the trip so we can have a vacation and I can defeat Randy Beets one more time.

Swim around Hobbs Island in Huntsville, Alabama is set to come off in mid-September. They offer a one mile, two mile, and five mile option. This swim takes place in the Tennessee River, and the five miler features some up-current swimming. WHAT!?!?!?!? I want in.

In addition to these formal events, I hope to also do some really big pond swims just for fun. I miss those all-day outings with the dogs at the fish farm where I would swim and run and lift until I was flogged out. I want it again. So there you have it. Not a big slate, but large enough to keep me busy enough and swimming enough not to get too fat. I hope. I will also be poking around the internet looking for other swims, both pool and open water. Anything I do will be reported here. 

Thank you, Jesus, for the health to think and dream and plan.