This is Part V in Chris McClelland’s series about recovering from heart disease and getting back in the swimming pool.
It has been five months since I last checked in with my friends at SwimSwam, and man, has it been a wild ride! Every week I go to the pool on a regular basis, as recommended by my cardiologist, and swim laps. Usually it’s not all that fast of a pace, but over the weeks and months I have seriously improved my technique and every time I get back in the pool I dig a little bit deeper on my strokes, and continue to work on my flutter kicks and breaststroke kicks. I am now almost always swimming freestyle and breaststroke, my two best events. I feel winded, and at times exhausted and light-headed, mainly due to my adult-onset diabetes, but luckily the swimming and other exercises, have been helping me to much more masterfully get a handle on the blood sugar situation. And overall, after each practice I feel more alive than I have in years, the air clean and invigorating as I breathe in, my blood coursing through my veins and arteries in a strong pulse.
I am a regular at my local Rec Center pool now, mostly coming in, due to my schedule, when the pool is set at 50 meters, and most of the lifeguards and regulars seem to recognize me now. I am particularly enjoying the hot tub during warm up and warm down. I think with the large scar down my chest from my surgery, most astute observers can surmise one of the main reasons I am here. I was at first self- conscious when taking my shirt off in public, with my scar so visible, but now I wear it as a badge of
honor, the mark of a survivor. I have gained a lot of confidence in the water, but still have a long ways to go before I think I will be ready for an organized meet with my peers. Until then, slow and steady, getting ever faster and more powerful as the days and weeks go on. I will check in with my fellow SwimSwam friends and do a special report when I return to a full-scale competition. Until then, happy swimming!
About Chris McClelland
Chris McClelland’s most recent fiction, a story of World War I and its after effects on one man’s spiritual journey, won the bronze award for Creative Writing, Short Story Category in the recent National VA Arts Festival. His most recent nonfiction has been this series in SwimSwam about his comeback to the pool. A veteran of the US Air Force, he studied engineering at the University of Florida, where he spent months training with the world-renown Florida Gator swim team. He recounts this experience in a
previous article in SwimSwam called “Swimming Among the Olympians”. He holds an advanced degree in English from the University of Central Florida, and he spent seven years teaching as an adjunct professor at various colleges around central Florida. In 1999, he was a contributor to the prestigious Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference. At that time he worked as a technical writer for Siemens Westinghouse. In 2004 he became a regular contributor to Narrative Magazine where he worked as an
assistant editor. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, Puerto Del Sol, and Mid-American Review. He recently co-edited The Provo Canyon Review with his wife, Erin. His novel, In Love and War, has been published to many positive reviews. He currently lives with his wife and sons in Utah. He can be reached at: https://chrismcclelland22.blogspot.com/ where free copies of his collection of (mostly) competitive swimming themed short stories and other independently published books are available at a greatly reduced rate.
