A look back at 2021.

As the COVID tide ebbed and flowed - some events went back to normal (whatever 'normal' is!) - Team Asha continued to train and encourage athletes to embrace Open Water Swimming (OWS) & triathlons. Keeping safety in mind we kayaked and Stand Up Paddleboarded (SUP) with the swimmers at Gull Park and Santa Cruz. We had swimmers participate in Alcatraz crossing, Donner Lake, Lake Tahoe, Bridge to Bridge (Golden Gate to Bay Bridge) swims. Team Asha also had a few more first time Ironman 140.6 finishers and a bunch of 70.3 and Olympic triathlon finishers. Absolutely wonderful to see our athletes getting stronger on the bike, run and more comfortable in open water. 

I decided to stepped away from running Chicago Marathon in 2021 (it was cancelled in 2020) - a race I had run 15 years in row (2005 to 2019). Going forward, I'll look for local races to run. 

That said, I did enjoy my swims. Did 7 swims in the San Francisco Bay and swam the Santa Cruz Wharf on Sunday's whenever I could get there (28 times around the S.C. Wharf in 2021). I also did a 6 mile swim in San Diego (La Jolla Cove). Absolutely nothing better than swimming in the cold Pacific waters. 2021 was the first time I took my SUP to Santa Cruz. Felt great to paddleboard around the lumpy sea waters with the sea lions going 'wharf! wharf!' at us.

I continue the search for my biking muse...(I'll look harder for her in 2022), have kept my running at a maintenance mode. 2021 ended with: 

584 miles running (a heel injury kept me out for 3 months).

245 miles biking 

216 miles of swimming (~380,000 yards. That is more than the previous 3 years combined!)  

Here are some of the fun swims of 2021:   

3/17/21 - Alcatraz (With Pacific Swim Co.)

4/16/21 - Tiburon Coast (With Pacific Swim Co.)

5/01/21 - Alcatraz (With Odyssey Swim)

6/11/21 - Alcatraz #14 (With Pacific Swim Co.)

6/14/21 - Alcatraz (aborted about half way due to thick fog)

7/25/21 - Donner Lake 2.4 mile

9/08/21 - Swim around Angel Island 

9/26/21 - 6 mile swim at La Jolla Cove (San Diego)

Let's hope we all stay healthy and happy in 2022. 

Happy swimming everyone! I leave you with a poem by Amos Russel Wells.

The Cup of Ocean

by Amos Russel Wells

What does the cup of ocean hold?

Glory of purple and glint of gold;

Tenderest greens and heavenly blue,

Shot with the sunlight through and through;

Wayward ripples that idly roam.

Tumbling breakers with gallant foam;

Sands and pebbles that chase and slide;

Mystic currents that softly glide;

Mighty spell of the ages old,

This does the cup of ocean hold.

What does the cup of ocean hear

To the lips of land folk everywhere?

Danger's ominous, ghostly breath,

Battered forms of an awful death;

Howling tempests and bitter sleet,

Crash of the sea steeds' terrible feet;

Ships a-quiver with fearful shock,

Anguish heaped on a savage rock;

Loss and turmoil and fatal snare,

This does the cup of ocean bear.

Look ye well to the ocean's cup,

Ye who gladly on beauty sup.

Tarry long at the treacherous brink,

Gaze within e'er ye bend and drink.