Accomplished another thing on my "to do before I die" list (98 to go)

We've written about my "100 things to do before I die list" and the benefits of having a "life list" (aka a written list of things you want to do before you die) (truth be told I couldn't make it to 100 and peaked in the 40's though I continue to add to it). We've also reviewed books on the subject and will be focusing on how to make the list in the future but for now I have a simple list of about 40 or so things I want to do someday written out on an Excel spreadsheet.

In this case I practice what I preach and have my own list. In the past 6 months I've been fortunate enough to cross off two from my list (both coincidently related to swimming). In September I swam across San Francisco Bay and today I swam over 4,000 yards in one hour. One might wonder why something so bizarre would make the list and a little back story is called for.

I swim with a masters group at UCLA and every year the entire club trains for a national competition in which everyone swims as far as they can in one hour. I done it 6 out of the last 8 years and have never reached 4,000 yards thought twice I was within 50 yards. I always felt that if I trained consistently and focused on it I could make the 4,000. It was a great goal, it was achievable but accomplishing it would feel great.

To do 4,000 yds I would have to average 90 seconds per 100 yards. I was cautioned by the coaches to not go out too fast and that it'd be better to negative split (go faster on the back half). With this in mind, I made sure to give myself a 10 second cushion in the first 300 but then settled down to 90 seconds per 100 and never deviated away from that until the last 5 minutes when I started to sprint. The result was 4030 yards, a personal best and accomplishing a to-do item that's been on my list for 6 years.

Am I a better person for it and will I look back from my deathbed with a sense of relief that I made 4,000 yards? Of course not, but I do think that I'll remember that I put in a year into training for this goal how good it felt to cross 4,000 yards with 30-seconds to spare.

Different people will put different things on their "to do before I die" lists and it's safe to say that I'm probably the only person in the world with this particular goal. But these kinds of lists are good ideas and I can say for certain they feel great to accomplish them.