Pool's Open!!

Day 9 of my 30 Day Ironman Challenge and the pool at our gym has finally reopened!

And here I am! My husband finished his laps first and then he hopped back in the pool and took some pictures of me. Just not sure how I could manage swimming selfies!

I can't open my eyes in the water and since our goggles have gone missing, I have to keep my head up. Unfortunately, it gets pretty uncomfortable. So every now and then I had to flip over and do some backstroking to stretch my shoulders and relax my neck.

Against by better judgement I am sharing a little video my husband shot. Don't be jealous of my superb doggie paddling skills :)

Not sure what happened here. I left my Garmin on the pool deck to keep track of my time. Obviously it wouldn't track my distance and expected it to be zero. Evidently, it must have done a little wiggling around :)  I was super excited to see that I swam my 10 laps (1/4 of a mile) in 22:35 minutes!! I had anticipated it taking MUCH longer. Good thing I wasn't doing the entire 2.4 mile swim today - it would have taken well over 3 1/2 hours!! The actual time allowed for the Ironman swim portion is 2 hours and 20 minutes.

In all seriousness, I was very pleased with the swimming. I did it faster than I thought I would and it felt good. I was able to keep going with only a few seconds here and there to regroup. One of these days I am going to have to invest in some swim lessons and get a more efficient technique. For now it is an effective workout. Next swim session I am going to push for more distance. That will help me catch up after the pool repair delay.

A few years ago my sister decided I collect flamingo beach towels. Stay tuned for more of the collection. Today's towel...

In other news, I learned something new about my husband today. Apparently he is the type of person who would put clothes on a dog. I came into the bedroom and my poor puppy was being wrestled into a tshirt :)  I thnk she was a little less than amused.

She perked right up when I mentioned the farm. Sadly, for her, it was a trick. I wanted at least one picture of her looking less of an abused puppy.

And what is a spring post without a flowering tree (or shrub). Lilacs are one of my absolute favorites. I grew up in Ontario, Canada on the edge of the Canadian Shield (also known as Precambrian Shield or Laurentian Plateau.) The shield is composed of granite and the earth's greatest area of Precambrian rock (igneous and metamorphic rock)..Roads were cut through hills made of rock. One that was about a 1/2 mile from our house was known simply as the "the rock cut". As in we are the third house on the left after the rock cut. The back part of our property was mostly exposed limestone with limited patches of soil. In those patches of soil grew the most beautiful lilac bushes. The lilacs must have loved that alkaline soil caused by the limestone. I could spend hours wandering around that beautiful fragrant lilac forest. When I smell the flowers on my lone little lilac bush it transports me to one of the happy memories of childhood.