Retiree, heal thyself!

My cute lifeguard has no idea what he witnessed today. Maybe because he couldn't keep his eyes open.  Lifeguards have the most boring jobs in the world.  It makes me want to fake a drowning to give them something to do.

Seven weeks ago today, I started swimming on an almost-daily basis. Well, "swimming" is a bit of a misnomer. I've been doing a lot of water walking, deep water aerobics and attempting to swim in the traditional, Olympic sense. The problem was my left shoulder which suffers from what I suspect is a torn rotator cuff. It would never allow me to achieve the full range of motion needed for the American crawl (aka freestyle) stroke. As I discovered early on, you really need both arms to have equal ROM or you spend a lot of time swimming into the ropes.  Today, after weeks of self-designed therapy - drum roll, please - I achieved it! My left arm was stretching just as far in the water as my right arm without pain. And if I didn't look like Michael Phelps, I was feeling him. I'm going to celebrate by going out to buy a new swim cap and fog-free goggles. I've got Diana Nyad's record to break, and some serious calories to burn: