Miles For Marly: 100 x 100 Swim

Miles for Marly – January 8, 2017 at Harvard’s Blodgett Pool

by Erica Carroll

Despite the snow that fell Saturday night, about 120 swimmers (including a strong showing from BUMS) arrived at Blodgett pool bright and early Sunday morning brimming with excitement for this year’s 100 x 100s swim. Event support was exceptional: lanes were labelled by pace; coaches roamed the deck filling swimmers’ bottles with water and/or Gatorade upon request; and the score board was programmed to count the 100s and keep track of intervals. They took care of everything but the swimming!

The swim itself surprised me: it wasn’t boring! I came into the event with all sorts of strategies for keeping things interesting… ten 100s warmup, ten 100s build, try to descend by sets of ten, etc., etc. All that planning went out the window, however, once things got started. I ended up needing to focus my attention on my surroundings more than I expected to avoid being the cause of lane congestion/collisions. But I guess the distraction was nice, because all of a sudden, we were fifty 100s in, and it was my turn to lead the lane (most lanes rotated leaders after every ten 100s). I enjoyed the shot at some open water and having a little room to push my pace. I tried to convince (delude) myself into thinking about the next forty 100s as a regular Tuesday/Thursday 4,000 yard practice following a very, very long warm up. Then it was just a matter of ten (admittedly, painful) 100s warm-down between me and exchanging high fives with my lane-mates!

The nervous energy and chatter before the start had morphed, over the duration of the event, into a quieter appreciation for the hard work we had collectively put forth in the pool. While a little stunned by the effort, I was excited to have participated – both to challenge myself and to revel in the comradery of dozens of swimmers who thought this was an excellent way to spend a snowy Sunday morning!

If you participated, congrats! If not, maybe next year?!?