Back in the Swim – Again!


Me flying high off the starting block for the 50 yard freestyle.

ParkingSuns.com is still on Spring Break, mainly because I’m so busy, even on weekends.

For instance, a few weekends ago I competed at a big swim meet in New York City. I entered the 50- and the 100-yard freestyle events. You’ll see videos of both below. Although there were a few hundred athletes at the event, I was actually competing against only a dozen or so male swimmers in my age group (65-69). I won a 2nd place and a 3rd place ribbon for my two races.

Here are the two videos: first the 50-yard, then the 100-yard. In both cases you’ll see that the judges at the starting blocks were worried that my flailing right arm signaled that I was losing my balance and about to fall off the starting block. In fact, I couldn’t control what my right arm was doing due to dyskinesia, a symptom of Parkinson’s disease.

What’s interesting to me is that my loss of control over my right arm vanishes as soon as I hit the water. There, my regular stroke resumes and I smoothly sail through the water, much as I did as a high school swimmer.

But enough with the blather. Let’s watch the races!


The 50-yard sprint.

The 100-yard sprint.

Even though I swam only two short races, and even though it looks like swimming is effortless for me, I was pushing myself hard as I swam, and for the rest of the day I was physically exhausted but mentally calm. I slept extremely well that night…Now if only there were races like this two or three times a week!

Meanwhile, I hope to get ParkingSuns.com back up and running full-force soon! I hope all is well with everyone!


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