#57 Nashville ain't all just country...Centinnel Sportsplex, Tracy Caulkins Competition Pool

With this years summer sales meeting in Nashville I was expecting a country vibe. Little did I know my trip would have a small Olympic under current. 

Staying at the new Omni downtown a short walk from Broadway and the honky tonks made it very easy for us to enjoy the music nightlife and good ole southern (fattening)cooking. After the opening reception it was clear I needed to swim the next morning work off dinner. With a little research on swimmersguide.com I was able to find the Centinnel Sportsplex in Centinnel Park across from Vanderbilt Univeristy.

The pool opened at 6:00am so I got up around 5:30 and uber'erd the short 15 minute ride to the pool. I was pleasantly surprised to find an Olympic sized 50 meter pool. There was a fair amount of activity on the deck with a good sized masters team. 

I decided to not swim with the team and just to do my own thing as I was going to need to get out early to get back in time to the sales meeting.  At some time during my warm up I flipped over to do back stroke and I saw a huge sign I didn't notice before welcoming me to the Tracy Caulkins Competition Pool.  

Wow-I wasn't expecting to see Tracy's name on the wall. Typically, I would say that name was a real blast from the past however in the last month mom sent some of my (very) old school work  to me and I found an essay I wrote about her for an english class in 198? How coincidental is that? Look I even got a pretty good grade.

Nashville the Music City certainly has some great music but also a Olympic heritage worthy of a high school essay about the great Tracy Caulkins.

Marblehead Ocean Swim

This past weekend I had the opportunity to swim with the Nahant Knuckleheads. The Knuckleheads are esteemed group of cold water swimmers in the Boston area.

Elaine D and I carpooled up to Lynn where we met the rest of the group. There were many people that I recognized from passed swims and some new faces.  After a quick stop at Eastern Mountain Sports to rent kayaks we set off to Devereaux Beach in Marblehead.  There were 12 swimmers and two kayakers with E2 taking the lead in making sure we were all safe swimming.  

We left Devereaux Beach with Phillips Beach in Swampscott as the destination roughly two miles each way.  The water was 63ish degrees and it felt great-I can't believe I am saying that! Cold patches along the way where the temp dropped 3-4 degrees. It's a rocky coastline with beautiful houses on the shore. 

We swam until someone's GPS read 2.0 miles. We were approximately 1000 yards off Phillips Beach. The group, generally got back together, rested and chatted a bit and we made our way back to Devereaux.

The trip back seemed to go a bit quicker with a bit of a tidal push. It was just over a 4 mile swim and two hours. 

Very fun day and swim and a great way and perspective to see a part of the Boston area that I hadn't seen before.

And finally, the requisite E2 picture.