In other news, Redford took off yesterday morning and didn't come back. When we returned from the rodeo, he still hadn't shown up. Ditto this morning. I was getting very freaked out. Thank God, about 8:30am, a guy called asking if we were missing a dog. So I got the directions and headed out to get Redford. He was about 10 miles away. He had the grace to look ashamed of himself when I came and picked him up, but seemed to recover his good humor soon. I am so happy to have him back home!!

This past Saturday, I was videotaped while swimming to get some tips on improving my speed and efficiency. I somehow thought that since I had managed not to drown over the past 30 years, I was an alright swimmer. However, I was disabused of that notion fairly quickly. I don't think the coach meant to be such a downer, but he was. I was filmed first (out of 9 women from the TriGirls) and so when we were all reviewing the tape, I got 10 minutes of critique and everyone else got about 2 minutes (because we were going to be towed from the parking lot if we didn't move along). My stroke is too flat and my arms aren't bent enough. And if that isn't bad enough, I was subjected to a view of me from the front and then from the right and the left in a bathing suit. You know how your image of yourself in your mind is sometimes different from what shows up on film? Well, boy howdy, there certainly was a difference. The coach kept going back and forth and rewinding me and then watching again and pointing out more things that I could work on. I am so glad that is over, but now all I can think about is what is wrong with my freestyle and how am I going to make it through the triathlon?? I worked on a couple of things tonight at swim practice and I do see some improvement, but not a whole lot. I am going to have to just go with it -- I cannot revise 30 years of swimming habits in two weeks.