Waterblogged

It's a record for me: three swims this week at noon. Jana told me yesterday that I was going to start actually liking swimming in the middle of the day, what with the sunshine and warm weather coming. Ha! How can that possibly compare to swimming in the cold dark rain? Okay so it's growing on me. Still I feel almost disloyal, even though I have no choice unless I want to leave my seven year old home alone in the dark, for swimming with a different gang. And then there is the waiting. As soon as the kids are at school I'm asking myself: What time is it? Is it almost time to get my suit? How much can I do before 11:30? What will I eat right before I swim that isn't lunch but gets me through the workout? I'm hungry at noon, dammit. The noon swim is this big old commitment in the middle of the day that must be prepared for. And my coffee from Borrone does not taste the same at 1:30PM as it does at 7AM. Actually nothing tastes right after I swim at noon. I think this is ...

People keep asking me about leaving Juice. "You can't leave," they say, "it's YOUR company!" I calmly tell them that because of the way these investment things go, it hadn't really been mine for a long time, if ever, and that yes, I can and did leave. Then the conversation quickly moves to how exhausted I have been for years and how it's a good thing that I'm home now. "Yes, you've been sucked dry for a long time," are words I often hear. It surprises me every time even though it's just people affirming what I've just told them. I kind of thought I was hiding the fatigue and frustration pretty well, under that veil of very real excitement and adrenaline that comes from constant hard work and creation. I loved what I did at Juice. I also hated it at times; whenever the actions people I depended on turned my trust into disillusionment. I know that from the outside, folks saw the way I thrived on the work. Apparently they saw c...

This morning I decided to take my kids and my camera to practice. The kids happily woke up at 5:15 and dressed warmly, ready to see some power swimming (and play on my iPad). Everyone in my lane said "Sarah, how could you do that to them? Aren't they freezing? What a mean mom!" Ha! Kids today are too soft. We spend all weekend and most of our evenings watching their games and practices. They should watch one of ours once in a while, don't you think? (Okay or at least use the iPad while sitting next to our practice at 5:45 am - after all, it's what I do at theirs.) And truly, my kids begged to come. The other week when Noah was out of town they asked to go each morning. Each morning I got up and half heartedly poked them. No response. So I left them alone, thinking it was a bit early to rouse them on a school day. And each morning when they woke up and saw the sun they were furious. "We want to watch you swim!" they said, "you have to try harder to g...

I heard about The Secret Life of Swimmers in our locker room the other day and immediately had one of those annoying "damn, why didn't I think of that?" moments. But I didn't think of it, and we're all lucky a woman named Judy Starkman did think of it because it's genius. She's taken photos of swimmers from her pool both at the pool, as she knows them, and in their "real life". I've included one of my favorites above but you have to take a look at her work. We all experience this kind of "Whoa, I think that's the guy from Lane 3" when we see fellow Masters swimmers out at Target or our kid's baseball game, or, as has happened to me and I suspect many of us here in the Valley, in a pitch to a local VC. At first glance, I am always shocked by the almost-indecency of seeing someone I may not know well but usually see naked or clad only in a swim suit, fully clothed and doing something other than gliding through the water horiz...

As Easter and Passover approach, my kids want to both dress up hunt for eggs and eat cinnamon buns, and also eschew all bread products for eight days and perform a Seder. We're on track with one "pre-Easter" due to a grandparent's upcoming trip and absence during actual Easter, another egg hunt at another grandparent's house on real Easter, and a few ideas for Passover. My main problem is thinking about whether I can really give up cereal for an entire week. Carbs are good friends to me, and if I do ignore them for even a day this will be a real sacrifice indeed. Any Passover recipe ideas welcome. *warmup: 400 free, 100 kick, 300 free to stroke *4 x 25's, 100 IM, 100 free, 50 kick, 50 scull/eggbeater with hands in air repeat 4x, for 25's do in IM order (4 fly, 4 back, etc.) *6 x 75's: 3 free, 3 IM descending