Today I tried swimming with a few members of the local swimming club in the afternoon. It was a nice break from the workday. One of the swimmers invited me to join an un-official practice session and offered to drive me to the local swimming pool. It was an Olympic sized pool, open air, in the Fairmount Park area of Philadelphia. The group of swimmers was older than me (I was the youngest by a few decades). I was surrounded by a slew of veteran swimmers who knew how the world worked.
How many years have they swum consistently? I was surprised how one or two swam at the same speed as I did. Granted, I was very tired, and I am not a sprinter –yet. But the technique that they have refined over the years clearly paid off. These were older swimmers who stuck together throughout the years, bonded by a common goal: just swimming. When relationships, family, and other commitments/ responsibilities take over your life as an adult, it is hard to keep those friendships. It makes me wonder if swimming, considered to be the most complete sport, is the healthiest way to make long-term friends that carry you to the last stretch of life.