ONE-HOUR SWIM!!!!!!!!!!!

It was great, I loved it....

I took a taxi both ways, which is absurdly decadent - but one way of fighting mental insanity (like any other problem!) is to throw money at it - and from where I live to John Jay College is one of those trips that is literally 7 minutes in a $10 cab, whereas one would need to leave almost an hour for the $2 subway ride given weekend construction delays. Cost-benefit situation was clear.

(And yes, I did get my page quota written this morning.)

I got a little nervous waiting around beforehand, but of course as soon as I was swimming, it was all good - it was not a race, and fortunately none of my generous family donors (THANKS!) were sponsoring me by the lap! (Here are the charities TNYA is supporting this year.)

I had seeded at 2:00/100 yards, which I figured was about right, but I had no way of knowing if it would be OK or not, and I was resigned to the possibility that I'd be a bit slower. Took the first 20 minutes pretty easy, focused on staying strong for the middle 20, picked it up at the 40-minute mark and started swimming pretty hard when there were only 10 minutes left to go. I was kicking like crazy on the last lap, but didn't quite make it to the end - however I think I had a very good swim, and my total yardage came in just under 3100 (seeding said 3000, so that is exactly as it should be).

(The best way for me to swim more yards next year will be to become capable of doing flip turns! But this kind of swim plays to my strengths - I was thinking quite a bit in the middle stretch, as I sensed people flagging in other lanes, that doing a regular 2-hour run is very good cross-training for this particular kind of swimming, and it is not what most swimmers do.)

A delightful midday interlude, in any case, though I am sorry the timing proved so incompatible with a long run - it's a beautiful sunny day, though temperatures are brisk. But I have a lot of work to do later, so perhaps it is just as well....