Cans and Yards-A-Plenty

For most people, this past month is been February. As you all know, for us it's Can-Do February. And boy are we doing some swimmin'.

This Can-Do February has been a Menlo Masters "thing" for years. This thing was originally started because Coach Tim firmly believes that one can change and improve one's swimming, and of course overall fitness, with about 5-7 hours of swimming per week. This translates to about 100,000 yards for the month. Yah. I'll say. That's a lot of swimming (and I love it!).

Over the years this aerobic training has evolved into an “event.” Tim added the 100,000 and 50,000 yard club for motivation. It's amazing how much allure being able to say "Yah, I'm part of that club" can have. Swimmers are fans of clubs.

Then Tim added something even more inspiring than the promise of bragging rights: swimming for a cause. These days, for every 2000 yards each of us swims, we donate a can of food. In past years the team has donated up to 3000 cans at the end of the month. This year is the first year Menlo Masters as an organization will be matching the canned food donations from the individual swimmers. The beneficiary of this food will be the Senior Center in East Menlo Park.

When it's all said and done, I'll post a wrap-up of the yards and cans we accumulated, but I can go ahead and tell you right now: we rock.

I'll leave you with this. Here's what I'm talkin' about: donated frosting. Now that's giving.

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