Destination: Portland, Oregon

For the first time this year, I'll be competing in USMS Swimming Nationals. Is it because I'm a fast swimmer? Kinda not. Although I seem to be getting pretty fast for an "old lady" as my 15-year-old daughter likes to call me. After only a month of training, I'm approaching my best times from high school and college. Seriously. Which is kind of cool, really. And cool is something I need right now since I live in Tucson and its another 3 digit day.

My competitive streak hasn't diminished with years. After all, just because I have a few wrinkles doesn't mean I'm going to chill out and let you young people kick my slightly wrinkled ... And unlike when I was younger, I'm in tune with my body. Which probably compensates for my aging muscles and joints. I know how to train and how not to and what constitutes a proper diet. When I was 16, proper training meant improving strength and speed by pulling on lane lines and proper diet meant eating as much as possible of anything that contained massive amounts of sugar.

So in mid-August, its off to Portland, Oregon to swim. There, I might even be able to breathe (which I couldn't do too well at last weekend's Sun Devils meet in Phoenix when it was 115). And I'm hoping I will be able to stretch out on my towel on the nice cool grass, underneath a shady evergreen tree and read my novel while I wait to swim, just like I did when I was an age group swimmer back in Ohio. I won't be licking jello powder from my fingers between events or playing Egyptian rummy with a bunch of hormonal teenagers, who seem to (quite intentionally I think) keep missing the stack of cards and hitting other parts of people of the opposite sex's bodies on the slapdowns. But I will be in the company of others who love the sport as much as I do - and surrounded by people who inspire me - what to me has always been a quintessential part of the swimming experience.