2 January 2023
Reflecting on the swimming highlights of the year:
#1 - Swimming with Family
I come from a swimming family, then created a swimming family, am happiest when I am swimming with my family, and 2022 was a great year for doing so:
Left to Right, Top to Bottom
One of three times I got to swim with my oldest daughtert, Maia, this one in Mississauga at the end of June (pool #533)
Monica, my middle daughter, got me out of my comfort zone when we did a swim-bike race (1500m - 40km) together at Wasaga Beach, Ontario at the end of the summer (she won)
Managed to swim with all three daughters this year when my youngest, Zara, joined me in Calgary on Christmas Eve (pool #563)
Probably the best swim thing happened when my father returned to racing after the COVID shutdowns and we both competed at the US Masters Nationals Long Course Championships in August in Richmond, Virginia
My brother, Bill, and I did our first-ever swimming race together in June, competing in the Virginia Beach Lifeguard Association's Ocean One Mile race in June
While I didn't get a picture of us training together, while at a family camp on an island in northern Ontario, I got to swim with both my youngest sister, Susan, and my niece, Holly.
#2 - Making Strides towards my 1,001 Pools Goal
While I was three pools shy of making this my biggest year of pool additions, with business and personal travel both coming back to life starting around the end of the first quarter of the year, I made great progress toward my goal!
With 563 pools completed in 15 years, I'm on track to complete this in about 12 years (based on the long-term average), and maybe as early as 8 years (if I could hit the average of my five highest years).
I managed to swim in pools in six different countries - the USA (31), Canada (22), Dominican Republic (2), Panama (2), England (1), and Italy (1) - which satisfies my need to fly over water to find new pools!
#3 - Swimming in beautiful, exotic, and historic pools
I pretty much enjoy something about every swim I get the chance to do, but these six experiences top the charts for 2022:
Left to Right, Top to Bottom:
Swimming in Panama City's gorgeous Piscina Olimpic Adan Gordon (#506)
Monica's birthday gift to me - swimming at The University of Toronto's 1919-era Hart House pool (#515)
A workout in a pool named for a legend, the Mary T Meagher Aquatic Center in Louisville (#523)
Finally getting back to "tapered and shaved" racing at a big meet when Swimming Canada hosted Masters Nationals in May at the fabulous University of Laval facility (#525 and #526)
Being surprised when, on a company trip to the Dominican Republic, the amorphous "leisure" pools each had two perfectly measured, 25-meter lanes for training (#535 and #536)
And, finally, another very cool pool courtesy of Maia's gift to me, swimming at the 1931-era Marshall Street Leisure Centre in the heart of London (#546)
Looking ahead to many more years, many more pools, many more miles (& kilometers) to swim around the world!
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