The One Mile Swim

Article and pictures by Vic the Fatman Pace

(cover photo by Todd Doherty)

Well, today started out as usual with a warm morning and a gentle breeze as the sun came up….. Wait, what am I talking about, this is Washington State, in the middle of January, and it’s cold and gloomy outside. Nothing gets you going than a strong cup of coffee. Oh, and why not add a mile swim to top it off.

Well, that’s what the champions of TWIM and the other great teams here in the Pacific Northwest did today. They participated in the annual Bellevue Club Masters Mile. This is a beautiful pool with great amenities throughout the club. Those that participated in today’s swim were:

Colleen Wahlstrom. Returning from a brief hiatus with the birth of her son (welcome again to the TWIM family, Leif!), Colleen shattered her own PNA record with a time of 19:16.68, a half minute improvement over her old one in the 40-44 age group.

Kathy Pelham. Although not feeling her best, Kathy was ready, at least spiritually, to battle the enemy (of not prepping well enough). She mentioned that she was feeling a little ‘ugh’ but ready to do her best. She swam a commendable 21:35.52, and was happy to get a great workout in.

Zena Courtney. I was not able to meet the Warrior Princess before, during, or after the event. Although I did meet up with her lap counter (Laura, I believe was her name) while Zena was busy swimming awesomely. Zena set a new PNA record in her age group with a finishing time of 21:26.31.

Dan Underbrink. As you all know, Dan is something of a swim fanatic, I say that with all due respect, especially with his long-distance open water swims, i.e., Swim Around Mercer Island (SAMI), which can take several hours. I believe he once mentioned to me, 9 hours of swimming around, over, and/or through the water around Mercer Island, so in true nature to Dan doing something worth his effort, he ran a half-marathon that morning before the swim. Yeah Dan!!! Way to represent!! Dan had a seed time of 23:40.73, and finished with a 25:28.34, that represents an increase in 1:87.61 from his seed time. I still think that amount of time increase is negligible due to the fact that he ran, yes, I said ran, 13.1 miles before the swim, how long before the swim, I am not exactly sure, but, you have to figure that somewhere between the hours of 7 am to 12 pm, he was running somewhere for 13.1 miles. I’m not sure how fast Dan runs per mile, but, if he was running an 8-minute mile, well, that’s an hour and forty-four minutes at a minimum.

Jason and Tammy Koppelberger. Coach Tammy and Jason, aka, Tarzan, are always there to represent TWIM in the best and the most joyous manner of the TWIM Team. Tammy had a seed time of 20:26.82, and finished with a 20:48.26, that’s a slight increase in her time of 0:21.44 seconds. Jason, also known as “Tarzan” according to Tom Walker, had a great swim with the encouragement of his wife, Tammy. Jason’s seed time was 26:31.16, and finished with a 25:18.36, that’s a time improvement by 1:12.80.

And last but not least, Valerie Thompson, who is always early and ready to swim her heart out on any swim event that she participates in. I call her “My Little Nemo”, because of her having 3 total hip replacements, and one of her legs doesn’t kick very well, or at all, it’s like her fin is too small and she keeps trying to keep up with the bigger, faster, fishes. Tom Walker was talking with Val at one point during the event, and in response to one of Tom’s question, Val replied “When I’m in the water, I feel alive”, awesome response Val! I hope all of the TWIM swimmers feel that same way, and I bet they do, because why else would they be there if they didn’t feel the same way. Val’s seed time was: 40:00.00, and finished with a 36:09.04, that’s a time improvement by 3:90.96. I believe Nemo is getting faster, watch out big fishies !!