You CAN Teach an Old Dog New Tricks!

A couple of weeks ago I was at my pool for an easy morning swim. It was a Saturday, and I don't usually swim until the afternoon on Saturdays but since I was heading out of town for the evening, I decided to go early. I was surprised to see a couple of swimmers I know from West Van Masters there - surprised because they were in the "wrong" place, on the "wrong" day and at the "wrong" time. It turns out they were doing a Starts & Turns clinic in preparation for the BC Masters Provincial Championships.

I started chatting with one of them and the conversation went something like this - Ursula: "So, are you ready for the race at Provincials?" Me: "Huh?" Ursula: "The 4 x 50 relay, you're on a team." Me: "Huh?" Apparently my name had somehow come up as someone who would be going to Provincials and would be on a relay team. Never in my life have I raced in a pool and I had no plans on starting anytime soon. To make matters worse (in my head) it was the SHORTEST and FASTEST distance possible - 50 meters. Sprinting is not my "thing" because I am not particularly fast. I prefer going at a steady pace over a longer distance.

Being the person that I am, I decided I couldn't let 3 other people's hopes and dreams of participating in a relay race at Provincials get crushed (OK, I may be exaggerating a bit) so I agreed to race. Ursula: "The entry fee is the same no matter how many events you do, so you might as well sign up for a couple more." Me (out loud): "Yeah, sure"; Me (in my head): "Not a chance".

As I registered for the meet, I discovered that you HAVE to register for a non-relay event, as relays are done separately and my name was already on the list, but to get registered, I needed to sign up for something. Crap. So I found an event that I might be able to do OK at (400 m) and signed up. Then I looked at the psych sheets. Then I scratched my name from the event. Based on my best guesstimate of my time, I would finish close to the back of the pack.

I suffered through my usual pre-race jitters, nausea and mind-babble - "What if I come dead last? Everyone will be looking at me. What if I look like an idiot? I can't do this. I'm too slow." When I left the house for the meet, I had timed it so that I wouldn't have to be at the pool too long, but the thing with swim meets is that they are ALWAYS behind schedule. So, I arrived about 3 hours early.

Here's the weird part - it was FUN! Nobody cares how fast / slow you are. Nobody thinks you look like an idiot when you're doing exactly the same thing as they are. Nobody is too slow when they're swimming their best. The last finishers usually get the biggest applause. It felt really good to be part of a team; not just the 4 of us who relayed, but part of a bigger team.

I left the meet both proud and annoyed - proud because I did something completely out of my comfort zone and annoyed because I scratched my name from the other event. I scratched out of fear, but doing the relay and watching the meet made me realize that it was a totally irrational fear. It turns out I would have placed not-too-badly in my age group if I had swum in other events.

So ... BC Masters Swimming Provincial Championships MAY be on the list for 2011. Stay tuned ...

Oh, and by the way my team came 2nd in our combined age category. Not bad!