Farewell 2019. I’m glad to see your buttcrack as you saunter off into memory with your pants pulled halfway down.

Still, there were highlights among the lowlights. Aren’t there always? Swimming offers me the most consistent vehicle for balance. No matter what’s happening, I always feel better when I’m in the pool. Even if I’m just floating around, thinking “Look at where you are in the world.”

Highlights

• Swimming in beautiful European lakes during my summer bike touring adventure. Eibsee, Walchensee, Lake Sils, Starnbergsee…beautiful, clean bodies of water that felt so amazing and rewarding after long days on the bike.
• 312,000 training meters.
• Second successful Skaha Lake Ultra Swim. I was slower, and it hurt more, but I made it across the finish line and scarfed a giant sandwich and kissed my kid who paddled the whole way beside me.
• My first open water swim in Sweden – the Riddarfjardsimningen – was exciting and fun and a great way to build in a destination swim with a holiday I’ve wanted to take forever.
• Getting the green light to swim the Sri Chinmoy 26 km Lake Zurich swim next August. This will be my focus for 2020. I’m gonna give it my all.
• My 6th Across the Lake Swim in Kelowna, and fastest to date. 4 more and I get that coveted silver cap!
• The Lower Columbia Masters Swim Club – an opportunity to swim locally with great friends. I didn’t make as many practices as I’d have liked, but I did get to swim with the team for FrightFest in Kelowna in October. I’m lucky to have such a sweet community of fellow open water enthusiasts.

Lowlights

• Being sick and tired for 3 months after my Dad passed away put a major dent in my training and my annual kilometer goal.
• My Dad passed away. I don’t know that I’ll ever get over it, but I hope he’d be proud of what I hope to accomplish in my swimming goals.
• Not organizing a swim in Copenhagen while I was there. Not that I didn’t have any fun. And now I have a good reason to return!
• Cancelling plans for the Slocan Lake and Christina Lake swims, which would have been really awesome additions to my summer events. I need to remember that summer is only really 8 weeks long and that there are only so many things that one can do. This one was pretty busy.

2020 Goals  (resolutions come later…. once January has a chance to pull itself onto the deck)

• Sri Chinmoy 26 km Lake Zurich Swim. I’m going to do it!
• Portland Bridge Swim
• Christina Lake – a good warmup for the above longer events
• 7th Across the Lake Swim
• Cough up the dough for a proper training smartwatch
• Consistent, focused training that will take me into the Lake Zurich swim in the best shape of my life. I’ve found a Kelowna-based coach and I am so excited for this man to kick my ass!
• Yoga, biking, skiing, and all the other cross-training activities I love.

Look at where you are in the world. Not so bad, is it? I wish you all the best for 2020.