Gittin' Back On That Horse

You see, I'm from Texas.

As if you couldn't tell.

And when a little Texan falls learning how to ride a bike, or takes a line drive to the chin, or fails at just about anything, he's liable to hear a homily about, "gittin' right back up there on the horse."

Those homilies stick.

The swim bucked me off at Wildflower, much more than I expected. So today, I got back up on that horse.

Today, I met Mishele K, my triclub homie at Twin Lakes, the local swimmin' hole for triathlete types.


Twin Lakes


Besides being a top engineer, Mishele is a four time Ironman finisher and uber swimmer chica. Mishele can do an Ironman swim in 1:04. Did you get that number---One Oh Freaking FOUR!

I will proclaim myself to be aquaman if I finish in an hour and a half.

Anyway, my goal was to swim two easy loops of the lake bouys, which totals just under 2k. I reached the goal, practicing a new form of siting. Even with general lollygagging, my time was quicker than the Lone Star Half-Iron swim. I learned some things about my stroke, how my wetsuit keep me from breathing (and did so at Wildflower) when the sleeves are not pulled tight to the armpits, and I even had some fun in the open water. That really doesn't happen with me.

Mishele swam circles around me, of course, swam out and back, and generally fished it up all over the place sans wetsuit. But that's just another reason to admire her. She'll pass the patent bar this summer and will be a much-sought-after law school grad three years from now. Um yeah, Engineer Girl has game.

Anyway, I intend to gradually add distance every week until I can do five loops comfortably. Then, it is hoped, I will be Iron-Ready and I can ride that horse.