Journey to the Ironman... The Uncomfortable Thing

In my first blog post, we established I hate water and swimming.  Now, you might be wondering how I got from there to aspiring to compete in an Ironman?

See, I married a man who loves terrible sports.  Road and mountain biking, skiing, and you guessed it, swimming.  I tried to get him to do sane people sports but I quickly realized, to my great disappointment and even greater amusement, that he has no hand-eye coordination. ZERO.  So, if we were going to do outdoorsy stuff together, for the safety of all involved it has to be his stuff.

I've spent the last 12 years doing things that I am insanely uncomfortable doing.  I know, I know, I'm an amazing and supportive wife.  Unfortunately, I also have this annoying habit of doing things BECAUSE they're uncomfortable (but we'll still blame Daniel for everything, agreed?  Excellent!).  Once I master the “thing”, I get bored and have to find a new challenge.  So, if it's not going to kill me (and isn't bungee jumping), then I'll likely try it.  This is what happened with swimming.

Let me take you back to the day it all began...

It's February 2017, and I'm riding some local trails with my husband and a few friends.  We finished riding and sat down for some food.  That's when I met Danny.  He was talking to my friend Kathy, and persuading her to come to the pool he lifeguards at so he could teach her to swim, for FREE.  I (stupidly) interjected and said, "You said free lessons?  Seriously?"  The rest of the conversation went something like this:

Danny: "Heck yea!  I'm amazing, I do this all the time, you'll be Katie Ledecky by the time I'm done."
Me: "I mean, I do have a fierce doggy paddle, that's a good start right?  What time?"
Danny: "5 am"
Me: "..."
Me: "..."
Me: "... Hahahaha, no."
Me: "There is no way I am getting into a cold pool at 5 am."
Danny: "It's heated."
Me: "What exactly do you mean by 'heated'?"
Danny: "82-83 degrees"
Me: "I'm not sure that word means what you think it means."
Danny: "..."
Me: "Fine, I'll be there."

Why would I even have bothered with this conversation? (Besides my being a glutton for punishment.)

The year prior I attempted to swim with Daniel, and it was a bit... embarrassing.  He lapped me multiple times (totally unacceptable) and I couldn't do more than 25 yards without feeling like I was dying (also, not ok).  So, when free swim lessons appeared I decided to go for it.  Plus, my hair was now really short and styling it twice in one day wasn't as soul-crushing.  Go, Faux Hawks!

Kathy, in a heroic show of solidarity, also agreed to go and we decided to start the following Monday.

When Monday morning arrived I could tell things were going to change forever.  I was certain the universe wanted this! It was pitch black, cold, my alarm didn't go off, I was running 30 min late, and I had hardly slept. It had to be a sign...

I know you're on the edge of your seat, dying to know - do I make it in time?  Do I drown?  Does the new iOS update finally fix my alarm?  But I've already surpassed my self-imposed 500-word limit so, stay tuned my friends.

To be continued...