CK and I jumped into the pool together, planning on just playing around; as far as she was concerned, she was still on break and she wasn't about to do any "swimming". That changed quickly when I said, "hey just tell me how my kick looks" and swam by her. She completely ignored my kick and said, "your hands shouldn't make that splash." She then took about 30 seconds to show me how they should make a shallow dive and how much my elbow should be bent. I did a couple of strokes with her watching to help refine it and I could feel the difference in the ease of the stroke and the forward momentum. Remember, she's 8.
Sunday was my off day so I didn't really plan on doing any laps but I wanted to take my new stroke for a test drive and CK said, "well, might as well get into shape for the season" and started doing a weird set of freestlye, backstroke, butterfly kick. I let her get tired and asked if she wanted to race? Might as well ask John Madden if he wants a chicken wing...of course, she wanted to race.
I had a secret weapon, my new stroke. She had a not-so-secret weapon, she's fast. It didn't even out. When I got to the wall, I asked how much she beat me by and she said about 2 - 3 seconds. I have news for you, in swimming, 2-3 seconds is a "f'ing eternity" (that's for Matt who doesn't read this blog).
In CK's mind, racing isn't just freestyle so we negotiated the next stroke - backstroke, figuring it's the one I'd lose by the least in. She showed me how to do a race start and we were off. My first memory of this race was thinking, "is that splashing next to my head her arms or feet?" Since the splashes went away quickly, I realized it was her feet (note: we were sharing a wide lane).
This time when I got to the wall, she had counted down how much she won by, and said very nicely, "only 3.5 seconds, good job" and she patted me on the shoulder like an obedient dog. Very kind but I know that she counted slowly.
Well, if I'm going to get beaten at least have it be by the best. And by best, I mean my daughter. She's the best.
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Awesome. Way to take getting crushed. And remember, she has another 6-8 inches+ of additional height ahead of her, to say nothing of muscle development.
ReplyDeleteYou should have raced her when she was still in swim fins.
Is there a 'non-spinnaker division' in swimming?
ReplyDelete32 laps! That's a mile! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteCKN,
ReplyDeleteHah! You obviously swim in a 50M pool...I'm talking 25Y. If I could swim a mile I would NOT be making fun of myself; in fact, I'd probably have t-shirts made up that read: "I swam a mile this morning...I am the greatest ever!".
When is CK available for swim lessons?
ReplyDeleteYes, when do we all get lessons? You've got an unfair advantage.
ReplyDeleteOn my "2 laps" the lifeguards were watching me & probably debating whether I was drowning or trying to swim.
Oh, and at the YMCA, all the lanes are "wide".
I go to the pool at 7AM to avoid the indignity of lifeguards watching me.
ReplyDelete