Getting my feet wet: back in the pool!

For those of you who don't know, I was a swimmer my whole life.  I don't really even remember much of my life before I was swimming competitively.  It started with the country club team and just took off from there.  I can remember my mom trying to convince me not to start year-round competitive swimming (she was a swimmer too and knew how much time/dedication/sacrifice it took). 

Well, after swimming for 2 years at the NCAA level, I had had enough. I wanted to go to nursing school and was getting injured a lot...it was just time. So I quit swimming and never looked back.  After a while out of the pool I started getting my feet wet again, oh maybe a couple times a  month.  Thank goodness I had Tyler (and sometimes Darin) Kent to swim with or it would have been less than that! Ever since we moved to Phoenix I was thinking about joining a Masters swim team, but it wasn't until last week I finally made the move.  I was terrified to say the least for a few reasons:

1. I hadn't swum in months.

2. I absolutely hate walking into a place alone for the first time where I know no one.

3. Arizona is a very strong and serious swimming state especially compared to Oklahoma. What if all of the 

    swimmers there are SO much faster than I am?

These were all good enough reasons for me to put off joining the team.  Luckily, Eric is such a motivating husband and he gave me a little pep talk that gave me enough courage to do a trial workout....and it was amazing! It felt so great to get in the water again and to be coached. The coaches are fabulous and all swam at the national level.  They take it seriously and motivate you to work harder and correct your technique. And now here are the reasons I am glad I joined:

1. It felt so good to get in the water and do a REAL workout.

2. I have way more energy.

3. I'm getting back in to "swimming shape" a lot faster than I thought I would.

4. I've met great people!

5. There are people that I'm better than, but plenty that are better than me, so I'm always challenged.

6. Outdoor practices.  Year round (which comes with a horrible one-piece tan line)!

Thank you Eric for always believing in me and motivating me to try new things. You are always right :) 

Check out the Sun Devil Masters!

And with that I will leave you with a couple old swimming pics...sick I know, but it's fun to look back on :)

I think I was 7 or 8 here.

Me and Mom before my first ZONES meet. Check out my Birkenstock/socks combo! Not to mention my huge glasses. Ha!

High school swimming. Thank goodness my hair is less curly now.

Thanks for reading!

Love,

The Wises