Healthtrax Comeback Story Winner!

Karina M.K. Avon Member

I look up to see my father, in the adjacent lane, finishing a lap just in front of me. I wade over to him wondering what he will say. At 65 he is, what I would call a sporadic, avid swimmer, if there ever was such a thing. “Well, good job, you definitely can float.”

I’m looking for feedback, critique, applause, anything. He chuckles and keeps on swimming. You see, the fact that I’m even here, swimming, with my father, is probably one of the last things I would have pictured myself doing just six months ago.

In fact, before June, my latest, most visceral memory of swimming is of half drowning midway through a basic skills test at the age of six, and then again a near death experience at 22 when I dove under one too many waves at Pololū, unbeknown to me, an apparently well-known riptide hotspot in Hawaii. Come to think of it, most of my memories of water are either terrifying, overwhelming or both.

Fortunately for me, a series of obligations had me plunging into what felt like an ice cold bath at either 9 or 11 am on a daily basis as a substitute swim instructor for the months of June and July. This was followed by becoming the unexpected, yet completely welcome, recipient of an extended trial membership to Healthtrax a few months later in September.

So here I was, mid-October on a father-daughter swim date, trying to get some pointers, any pointers from my dad, who as far as I know has been swimming avidly-sporadically for the past 30 years of his life. Pointers received- zero; comradery- on point. You see, my father doesn’t swim for technique, physique or spotlight; my father swims for– well he can tell you that best. What I’m here to tell you is what I swim for, and why I love swimming at what I regard to be the most welcoming, private and comfortable gym in town.

I swim for the boredom; I swim for the challenge. I swim for the moment between minute 10 and 11 when my mind finally shifts from wondering how long this will take, to losing any focus on time and gaining absolute concentration on my breath, my stroke and how I can coordinate the entirety of my being to travel through this strange and mysterious liquid space.

In retrospect, I appreciate what my father said, because it encompasses exactly the attitude that I have learned to cherish when it comes to fitness. It is an attitude of humor, of patience, and of caring detachment. You see, my dad is a man of few words, but the words he chooses more often than not carry a wisdom that is yours to garner through personal reflection.

The words he spoke to me later came to mean a combination of things that rather than spell out, I want to repeat what they might sound like if I spoke them to you– “Congratulations, you’re definitely here.”

Now before you write me off as a cryptic, give me a chance to explain.

If you are reading this now, you are either in, or contemplating, being in, your local Healthtrax. In either of those cases, I want to, sincerely, and respectfully tip my hat off to you. I want to congratulate you for taking the car, the bus, the friend’s suggestion, or whatever it was that got you here, and being here. For carving out the time, the space and the energy to do something that is in one way probably inconvenient, but in another way unquestionably, one of the best things you could be doing for yourself, your children, your partner, your parents, or heck even your colleagues.

Fitness: the discipline, the sweat, the frustration, the commitment, the satisfaction, the everything, can and will only do one thing for certain- make you stronger. In a world full of uncertainties, of constant change, of unexpected interruptions and disillusionment’s, the simple act of showing up and moving your body— of focusing on your breath and the here and now as you build your physical and mental endurance— is something I have come to appreciate now more than ever. I encourage you, as you continue on this fitness journey, to consider how far you have come, how far we all have, and how wonderful an opportunity we have each day to nourish our bodies and spirits through the simple act of exercise.

- Karina M.K.