Swimming's like childbirth

I've been wondering all week whether I should try to find my wetsuit before Sunday's triathlon swim. I'm hoping that even though I haven't been swimming, at all, I should be able to cover the half mile in under 20 minutes. That's about the pace I was at when I started training for my '06 triathlon, and that was after about 15 years off from swimming. I was talking with another woman in the locker room and she equated the question to the whole natural vs. drug-assisted childbirth. Did having a child without drugs earn me some sort of reward? No, not other than having a baby, which would have happened even with drugs. It didn't really make me tougher than anyone else, it was just what I wanted to do. Would swimming with no wetsuit mean I'm tougher? Not really, maybe just stupid. The water temp is in the mid 50s, and I haven't immersed myself in mid fifty degree water for 20 minutes and tried to maintain a swim. I think I'll look for that wetsuit this afternoon, the epidural of swimming.

Last night Hot Wheels moved up to Level 2 for the last night of swim lessons. Not sure why they moved him for only the last day, but now at least we know what to work on over the summer. He was so proud that he completed Level 1, and he's really taken to the swimming. Superman will likely be a level 1 for a few more sessions. He'll have to float on his back, float on his stomach and demonstrate a seated dive before he moves to level 2. Even then, he can't move up from level 2 until he's 5 years old, still a year and a half away. So there's no rush. I'm just glad to see them enjoying the swimming lessons. Some day soon I'll get Cutie in the pool, too.