That’s right… I went to Harvard…

… not for none of that fancy book-learnin’ or nothin’… I went for a swim! 

Since I was going down to Boston with the usual suspects from our Oakville running group that were running the Boston Marathon on Monday, I wanted to get a swim or two in, to keep my training up for the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim this weekend.

So with my extrordinary Google capabilities, I searched for some public swim times at MIT, BU and Harvard… there weren’t any.  Then I stumbled across the link to the BU Masters Swim Team and they openly invited visiting swimmers to come in for a workout… they have a great pool, so it seemed like a good idea.  Then I thought maybe Harvard would have a Master’s team too… and they did!  Nothing against BU, but it sounded cooler to swim at Harvard!  So I emailed the coach, Abe, and he was more than happy to have me come out for a swim!

Joanne came and watched from the gallery and checked out the school.  I picked a great night too, I went Sunday night, the night before the Marathon… and they had changed it to 50m long course and because of the marathon it was a pretty light turn out… and it was distance free-style night!  Perfect. 

In case you were wondering, I swam with 3 nice girls in the second fastest lane and everyone was very welcoming.  Not your typical master’s team, they were fast… and young.  I was easily the oldest there… I’m sure I brought the average age up by about 15 years!  (even though I’m sure they thought I was just a Freshman!)  A good workout and something fun for a change!

I decided I’d come back the next morning from 5:30 – 6:30 am too, when Joanne and the rest of the gang were making their way out to the starting line.  But being the good husband I am (and due to some wifely coercion) I decided it would probably be better to walk Joanne to the bus and see her off.  I wanted to go for a workout… but I think I made the right decision.

Or so I thought!  As it turns out, someone else was in Bean Town watching their significant other run the marathon too… and decided to get a swim in too… and who would that be?  I’ll give you a hint… the same guy I wrote about (scroll down a ways) dropping in on the Calgary Masters Swim Team’s workout a few months ago… yup… Lance-freakin-Armstrong!  Arghhhh.  

That’s the last time I do the ‘right’ thing!  Arghhh.

Cheers,

Rob