Just keep swimming

I've joined a Master's swim team here in Madrid. We practice weeknights at 9:30 pm. It's a bit late for me considering I'm used to practicing at midday so I can get the best tan (not to mention I could easily be asleep in bed by that time), but the group is a lot of fun and I've really been enjoying the workouts. They've even got me going to their competitions, monthly events that resemble the meets from my rec-swimming days, complete with poor organization and human timers carrying stopwatches and event cards. In two weeks I'll swim the 800m freestyle because I decided that if the late 50-something woman can do it with the largest breasts I've seen on a 5'o tall woman, then I can too.

There are quite a few younger people on the team that like to go out dancing after meets and on birthdays. Here, it is a tradition that if it's your birthday YOU are the one who provides all the snacks to celebrate. The last birthday after swim practice we had Spanish tortilla, empanada, beer, fanta, cured meats, cheese and trail mix. It was awesome.

Our team is small but the dynamic is exceptionally entertaining...

We have the uber-competitive, uber-machista, late 40-something man who is by far the biggest trash talker on the team but livens things up dramatically. Every time he beats the Basque guy he yells some sort of nationalistic victory cry that usually causes me to put my head underwater so he can't see me laughing.

The nerdy but beautiful coach who plans all the sets and eats, sleeps and breathes swimming. He's even purchased a neoprene suit for races that costs over 300 euros and sends us floods of emails about the newest technology in swimming. Everyone went nuts when he broke a Master's breast stroke record in one of the recent meets (timed with a STOPWATCH for heaven's sake).

The ex-Olympic swimmer from Mexico who does all kinds of dry land exercises like push-ups and sit-ups but then only gets in the pool for about 15 minutes every night. He also has the neoprene suit.

Of course there is always a legion of very sweet and friendly older men who take practice very seriously over in Lane 2, but chat with me about all things Spanish, American and in between, during meets and before and after practices. My favorite of those is a charmer, who I just found out the other night speaks English really well and lived in Britain for a year or two. (I think he was keeping that one at bay so he could use it one day, not unlike me at the elementary school where the little ones still haven't figured out that I understand them...) These guys are clutch for finding out about the best jazz concerts in the city.

Likewise, no Master's team would be complete without the dirty old men- those who always find a moment to make borderline inappropriate comments and innuendos to girls 30+ years their junior...