I took yesterday off (Sunday) which was good since I felt a cold creeping on. Felt achey and tired all day.

Today, Kurt offered to get the kids to school so that I could go swim. Normally, I would run on a Monday morning, after getting them to school. I look forward to my Monday runs so giving that up to go swimming was not at all appealing. But I am determined to do these triathlons so I literally forced myself out the door and into the car.

The hardest part about swimming in the winter time, esp with it being so darn cold in Colorado, is getting in the car and driving to the pool. I freeze sitting in the car and by the time I get to the pool, the heat is just starting to work and I have to get back out into the cold. How ironic coming from someone who LOVES winter running! I never get cold when i run in the winter time; in fact, I often get hot. So I just scratch my head when I hear myself saying "it's too cold!!!"

Plus, I can't seem to get warm in the water. I have to get in quick and get going. I cannot bob around, chatting to other swimmers. One time I tried taking a women's swim class and the coach had us get in and wait for him before starting class. The women would just tread water and chat. I was so cold I started shivering! That was the last time I ever took a swim class.

So today I put my suit on and at least a hundred layers on top, then pulled a fleece hat down over my ears. The people at the Rec Center probably thought I was going to rob them when I came in. Or, they probably thought I was a homeless person because none of my clothes matched and my hat was an old floppy one. What a riot.

The good news is taht I was able to swim 10 laps pretty easily - woo hoo! That's a lot for me. I don't know how to do flip-turns so i do stop at each end of the pool but this time I kept going. I then rested after 10 laps and tried another 5 or 6 laps, so that should be about 750 - 800 yards. Not bad for me!

The funny thing with swimming vs running or cycling is that I can always eek out a few more miles if I get tired while running or cycling but not swimming. If I'm tired, I'm done. There's no eeking out of anything. I just get out of the pool and go home.

But guess what I did this morning? I left my brand new Timex triathlon sport watch at the pool! I didn't realize it until later that day. Kurt got me that watch for Christmas and it cost about 50 bucks. I didn't want to lose it and was really bummed. I called the Rec Center but no, no one had turned in a watch. So I asked to speak with the life guards but no, they hadn't seen it either. So I printed up a flyer that basically begged the person who found it to turn it in ("do the right thing" I wrote in big bolded letters) and took it down there. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me hang it up so I just left it with a lifeguard and moped around the pool looking for my watch. I finally went home feeling really bummed. A few hrs later, they called and wa-la, someone had found it! I really think it was one of the life guards and their concscience got to them!

Instead of driving down to get the watch, I decided to run down there. It was 5:00 and the sun was setting. Kurt said he'd pick up the kids (which is rare occurrence) so that I could run. It was about 20 degrees but again, the cold never bothers me when I run. The bigger barrier was the traffic between my house and the Rec Center and the fac that it's in a not-so-great part of town. I thought, oh well, i'll just give it a shot. I ran through side streets and just stayed alert to my surroundings and it wasn't so bad. I think it was about 5 miles roundtrip (maybe 6) so I got a decent run in.

That's it for today!