LJ Idol Season 8 - Week 15: Laps

[alycewilson]

This is my entry this week for therealljidol. I invite you to read and vote for the many fine entries. This week's topic is "Preoccupied."

Comments

[snack_size]

I really liked this - I swim as well, and you did a great job capturing the sort of mental state I find myself slipping into when doing laps...I find swimming very meditative.

[alycewilson]

Me, too. As you can tell from reading this, I'm decidedly an amateur, but I just love swimming. I tried, as best I could, to actually recall what was going through my brain when I swam laps yesterday.

[kickthehobbit]

This is really beautiful, and I really appreciate the link to the poem!

[alycewilson]

I'm glad. That is one of my favorite poems of all time. You would think, with the number of times I've read it, that I'd have it memorized by now!

[kickthehobbit]

Pfft, if that were true, I'd have most of Adrienne Rich and Mary Oliver memorized. :P

[alycewilson]

LOL True, and I'd have almost the complete works of Emily Dickinson and Gwendolyn Brooks, available to call up at any time. I had a professor who could quote entire poems. So jealous. The best I can do is read and reread the book I made where I pasted or copied my favorites.

[halfshellvenus]

I like the detours into random thoughts-- which is how most solitary exercise goes, I think--and then the attempt to focus on which lap so as not to lose count.

And the goggles (yes, the water stings terribly now!) and the ear plugs (I'm tempted to try them, to keep the spike of too-cold water out of my brain) are just the beginning. Before long, we expect our mind to wander off into areas like the future, there will be a society where people only speak in quotes from other sources.

It's a self-defense against boredom, but it's also a little vacation for the mind. Win-win!

[alycewilson]

To be honest, I didn't try the ear plugs last time because I was afraid it would shut out all the lovely sounds. :) I truly think that meditative state of mind that occurs during exercise is part of the reason it's such a great stress reliever.

[basric]

excellent work.

[alycewilson]

Thank you!

[zeitgeistic]

I run instead of swim, but sometimes I have to keep pushing myself like that, too, even when I'm getting lapped (hard). I applaud you for keeping going.

[alycewilson]

Thanks! Funny thing is: it usually doesn't bother me, but these women were both soooo serious that I began to feel self-conscious about being between them.