I had the opportunity a couple weeks ago to swim with the U.S. Masters Swimmers at the Penobscot (Pen-Bay) YMCA in Rockport, Maine. I believe they refer to themselves as the Maine Masters Swim Club, though I’m not entirely sure. The group meets only twice a week for 1½ hours each session. Maybe that’s why the workout was so ridiculous – they had to make up for lost time? I’d like to thank them for welcoming me – and for the massive workout.

I have available to me at my Northern California home pool, on average, seven 1-hour swim workouts every day, Monday through Friday, one organized workout on Saturdays and one open swim on Sundays. There may have been a dozen people swimming with us that Thursday evening in Rockport, and our group occupied only a few lanes. There is only one instance I can recall there being so few swimmers at my home pool. (We swim at an outdoor pool, it was mid-winter, raining and the pool heater was broken.) The Maine Masters Swimmers share coaching duties while we have a head coach and six additional coaches. At the Maine Masters workout, we all did the same workout with the same intervals. Well, we were all given the same intervals, I’m not saying I kept up with the assigned times.

There are many differences between the two clubs. However, the unifying theme is the sheer love of swimming and the genuine kindness offered to new swimmers.

I was secretly hoping to bump into W. Hodding Carter, a 45+ swimming his way through his mid-life crisis and hoping to fulfill his dream of becoming an Olympian. Unfortunately for me, he was competing at the U.S. Masters Swimming Long Course Championships in Indianapolis at the time. (Congratulations are in order, as he managed two fourth place finishes in the Men’s 45-49 100 Meter Freestyle and the 50 Meter Butterfly!)

I did, however, pick up his book, “Off the Deep End,” and I just started it last night. More later on his book.