Michelle Obama arms

On July 15th, the Tri-Pak (me, Kara & Jody) did an open water clinic in Stone Harbor with Bill Hauser http://midatlanticmultisport.com/umly.htm. At some point, one of the presenters looked at me and said "You must be a great swimmer." (If only!) I assumed he said this because he looked at my legs which look strong . This led to a conversation with Kara, who has a similar body type as mine. All her life, she was called "athletic", I, on the other hand was referred to, a little less kindly, as a 'she-man' because of my muscles.

It wasn't until Madonna came on the scene and started "pumping iron", that our body-type finally got some respect. And now that Mrs. Obama is sporting cuts in her arms, again, folks are commenting, much more kindly, on our muscles.

However, I'm not sure if times have changed all that much. I still have friends who are worried that all of this working out and training for the Tri will also make them muscular. Throughout my 40+ years, I have heard all of the code words for "woman with muscles", so when a friend comments that she would not like to be as "cut" as me.....I know what she is really saying. Again, bringing me back to my middle school days.

Now that it is becoming more and more acceptable for women to have muscles, I am hopeful that my 5 year old daughter, who currently possess a muscular frame, will continue to embrace her strength, as she does now and not get distracted by people who may comment unkindly about her frame. I am also hopeful that women will get past the stereotypes that they have to be thin, and soft, in order to be attractive.

In my old age, I have begun to embrace my muscular frame because I am realizing that as I get older, it is way better to have muscles than not. And thank goodness, I don't have to lift weights to get it. I've got it!

Open Water Swimming

So thanks to my friend Adam, who I have known since business school and who owns a home on Lake Hopatcong , I was able to overcome my fear of open water swimming.

Early (I mean really early- 7:00a.m.), Adam in a kayak, took me and my friend Barbara, who is also training for the September 13th Tri, out on his lake.



First of all, I had on the magic suit, better known as the wet suit. If I knew how buoyant, the wet suit makes you, I would've have approached the trial swim somewhat differently. Barbara and I swam for about 1/4 mile, going from dock to dock while testing out our swimming abilities with increasing confidence.

That day, I left knowing that I was going to be ok and was not going to drown. Who knew?!! On July 5th, 2009, for the first time in my life, I swam (not waded) in open water. Yeah! Thanks Adam.

703

That was my number for my first trial tri. It was the Flat as a Pancake Tri http://www.sbrli.com/patanellas-flat-as-a-pancake-triathlon.html and we registered for it the day before we did it. My plan was to see if I was really ready to do an open water swim. In THEORY, I was ready. I had done a 1/2 mile swim in the pool several times. But the question was, was I really ready to do a 1/4 mile swim in open water with no end of the pool to touch, no ropes to hang on to if I felt unsafe...no nothing, just open water?



On the day of the swim, I remember looking at the water, looking at my two friends, Jody and Kara, and saying with fear in my heart, "you have to stay with me." Two minutes (not even) into the race, I looked at Kara, who looked at me asking with serious concern (really fear) on her face, "are you ok?" At that point, I decided that there was no way I was going to be able to not touch the bottom of the ocean...swimming was not going to happen for me on that day.



I decided that I was going to get out of the water, but my pride would not let me get out completely. So I walked, swam (only if I could touch the bottom) and finished my "swim" .



My take-aways from this trial run was that I was not ready to swim in open water and that I needed more practice in a more controlled environment i.e. someone swimming right beside me ready to save me if I started to drown. The good news is that I learned that I was ready for the biking and the running. So my focus has been on swimming.