Gobbler Relays

My arms are a bit sore this AM. Why? Because of the Gobbler Relays we did in Master's swim yesterday!

What are the Gobbler Relays?  Its what happens when your swim coach decides he wants to do something for "fun" for the Thanksgiving holiday.

For someone like me, a swimmer-wannabe, who has finally mastered the freestyle (or who gets by in a triathlon with a stroke that mimmics the freestyle), who has no clue how to do the breast-stroke and butterfly and who thinks that IM stands for Ironman, the Gobbler Relays are NOT fun.

We started with a 20 min warm-up that included the usual - free, kick, pull 200 - 400 yards (I never know because I can't see the board so I just pretend that I know and no one knows the difference).

Then the relays. We are divided into teams and luckily - or perhaps not-so-luckily - I am put with Todd, Amy, and Tom, three of the fastest swimmers in our swim group.

We have to do all 4 strokes twice in the relay: free, breast, butterfly, and back. As I said, I ONLY know how to do the freestyle and possibly the backstroke but I always end up running into the lane dividers and turning over to see where in the heck I am when I do the backstroke.

So my team wisely puts me at the end of the relay and I hear them screaming madly for me as I try to do the breast and then the butterfly but since I always get those two mixed up, they were screaming things like "no, Cindy, the BREAST STROKE, not the BUTTERFLY!!!" and "JUST DO THE FREESTYLE!" and "what the heck is she doing???" and even "where is she going?".

Then, the worst one was the Tandem relay. I don't think Todd will ever speak to me again. We had to hold onto the ankles of another person on our team while they did the freestyle and the person holding on kicked. Sounded easy at first but as I quickly sank to the bottom of the pool while I held onto Todd's legs that were moving way too much, I had to let go so I could get a breath (oxygen comes in handy), causing him to lose balance and momentum...it was a fiasco!  We had to keep trying several times all the way across the pool with me trying to hold onto his ankles, kick, and get some air at the same time. ARRRGGGHHH!

So, we switched it around on the way back - he held onto MY ankles and I used my arms to swim. It actually worked ok that way. Whew - I saved face but just a little!

Then we did the snake relay, which was easy because it was all freestyle - yay.

I am truly humbled to swim with such a talented group of people. But I think next year, I might just sleep in the day before Thanksgiving...