Reach

"Five three hundreds." Coach Lorie instructed us the other morning. And then she set the interval. Doable, I thought, with a little reach. This morning I was swimming in a Grimm Sandwich. Erik in front of me and Heidi behind. I waved Heidi ahead, she was preparing for the Madrid World Cup and needed a little push.

Erik will typically lap me at 250 yards and today was no different. Except that I finally got sick of it.

A month ago Coach Lorie videotaped us swimming above and underwater. A DVD was then created of the whole team. I was horrified as I watched myself. I was a shadow of the swimmer I grew up as. I really never kicked. Never. Not once not even a blip.

As we headed into set #2 of those 5 X 300's I thought, this is it. I am sick of getting dropped. I am a swimmer damnit!

I began #2 on Grimm's feet. And that's where I stayed for the next four. I added my kick. I felt like the college swimmer i used to be. I felt my heart swell, I felt myself reach for something more. Contentment had taken over me in this lane and I hadn't made the reach in ages.

"What was that?" cried Dr. Les when we were done. "That's the best I have seen you swim in five years!"

""I decided to finally buck up and swim." I told him. I was smiling, my lane mates were proud. Through the next sets I did it again. And again.

Then this morning I did it again through 4,000 yards. It was not easy. I started to fall back but I kept trying.

When on earth did I stop trying?

When did I stop believing?

When did I get comfortable being last in the lane?

When did I stop reaching?

That all stopped this week. I dropped it. It's part of dropping that bag of shit I talk so much about. I just didn't realize this was in that bag. And it isn't anymore.

How often in our lives do we create those habits? We get comfortable with where we are. At the top, at the bottom, somewhere in the middle. We come back to that same habit. Over and over and over.

Well what if we began to create a new habit????

What if instead of avoiding the final hill we took it? What if instead of finishing ..... we finished big. What if we finished each workout with our hands in the air declaring victory?

You see what happens to the people who get stuck. They do the same thing day after day year after year. It's hard for them to stray. They wonder why they always end up in the same place. They try to move ahead but their old habits bring them back.

Don;t let that be you. Hell it almost became me. Look higher, reach further, dream bigger. Why not. We won't ever know how far we can go unless we risk going a little bit further.