Second Competition

My second competition at Eikenhof dam was a glorious day. We could not ask for a lovelier day and all the families enjoyed the day next to the beautiful dam. My brother from Canada swam the 1 km and we finished together in 22 minutes 26 seconds. He swam without practicing. Another young woman(who did not practice and decide at the swim to take part) who also swam the 1 km did it in 18 minutes. I want to be jealous of them to swim so well without hours of practice but when I thought about how much I enjoyed my swimming practice- I actually feel sorry for them for what they missed out on.

My Brother and Brother in Law and the rest of my "team" resting under the trees

The dam is in a beautiful location. The life savers were on duty and it is really comforting to have them nearby. The water was clear and when I got into rythm again (after sighting that broke this) I was seeing how the bottom was "fleeing" below me. It is still difficult for me to swim straight and I had difficulty with sighting. I need to practice this in the next week.

When I look back over the year since I started swimming regularly I can see and are amazed about the progress I made. When I start I could barely completed 40 lengths (1 km) in 40 minutes. At the end of the summer in April 2013, I could swim 60 lengths in 40 minutes. Middle December 2013 I could complete 100 lengths (2,5 km) in just over and hour.

More pictures of the beautiful dam and festive atmosphere at the Open water swim at Eikenhof dam

On Saturday 1 February I will swim my first mile in a competition. After the mile I hope to swim in a 3 km race before the Open water swimming season end. Then it will be over to swimming in the cold see water, if I can manage that.