Inspired to Swim

Yesterday I did something unheard of: I went swimming just because I felt like it. I had no practice on the schedule. I wasn't hanging out with Willa while she played. I'm even on vacation.

I simply felt the pull of the pool and didn't fight it.

Oh, and I'd already been swimming the day before. I'm not sure I've ever swam on back-to-back days.

I can't quite identify the reason for this unusual behavior. It does make me wonder about the power of connections though.

On Sunday I learned via Facebook about the passing of Wendy Buckner. Wendy was a passionate swimmer. She recorded on her workout blog every meter she swam (460,822 meters during a one-year stretch; 18,856 a weekly high total). She died Saturday shortly after completing an open water swim in the Cayman Islands.

I didn't know Wendy. We had never met. In all honesty, I hadn't read her blog until she sent me a friend request on Facebook. And as far as I knew, she didn't read mine. But I suppose she must have. I pieced together who she was and how we might be connected in the network of blogging/swimming/triathlon pursuits. And when I did check out her blog, I discovered her incredible story, and her love of life and water and words and nature.

When Wendy liked one of my FB updates, I was overjoyed because I knew she appreciated the beauty of words. (I was over the moon when she liked my #ontodaysride observation: "Sun-dappled roadway. Big smiles on little Mennonite girls. Billowing gnat clouds over new corn. Heckled by catbird.") Of late, she'd been posting lovely images of aquatic life she'd seen on her trip to the Cayman Islands. Her sense of thrill upon such close-up observations of nature was infectious.

She died shortly after doing what she loved: swimming in the sea.

I'm not going to presume there's anything mystical behind my drive to swim this week. But I do know that Wendy's love for the water and embrace of life inspires me. 

Just keep swimming.

Where I've been swimming this week, in Wildwood Crest, NJ. Just a $5 drop-in fee and no membership required.