April 27th 2008

Hello Everyone
Once again time has lapsed and I have much news for all you swim nerds out there. Thanks to Harry, the ever supportive Mark and Gary for their comments and encouragement. As you can see I am slowly updating the site and soon some pictures will be added. Please visit the Diary of Events link which will be regularly updated as we are steadily raising money with various local events.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our local Landlord and lady Ian and Ruth for their support. They have arranged for Prize Bingo to happen at the Blue Peter Pub Kirkcolm every other Sunday to help with our fundraising efforts. This starts next Sunday May 4th at 5.30pm. We'll see how it goes. The amazing Eleanor will be the fabulous caller having had almost professional coaching from the lovely Cathey! Thanks for the loan of the bingo machine Cathey. I would rather put pins in my eyes than play Bingo but don't tell anyone.....
Which brings us on to other events. As you can see we have a regular slot at the millennium centre car boot sale in Stranraer on the last Sunday of every month. Ann and Mark are coordinating the 'staffing' of this and thanks to them.
Yes yes as you can see, Elvis has agreed to come back from the dead and play for us at Bar 12th on May 16th. We are really excited and the publicity is everywhere....at last
This brings me onto the news of our intrepid committee who have struggled recently. We lost our Karen who has selfishly moved back South, but is in touch all the time thank goodness. Then our new coordinator Pauline had an unexpected (and selfish) stay of nearly two weeks in hospital. She is out now and recovering slowly. GET WELL SOON PAULINE!!! Liz has a new job and is moving to the other side of the region. She will be helping the group over there organise their Sink or Swim Event, so she's not off the hook. So we were worried about how to organise details of the Elvis night and so on until the lovely and talented Suzanne stepped into the breach and showered Stranraer with posters. I'll get her picture soon don't you worry.

What swimming? Oh the swimming, yes I see that is what this is all about.....yes I've been doing some of that. Harry had been away for 6 weeks (selfishly)and is now back. I missed him and it is good to have his wise advice again. I have been swimming with the Stingrays all winter and there is no doubt that this has done me good. But now I am concentrating on sets of 500 meters with a minute rest in between. On Thurs night I easily did 3000 meters, and I feel ready to get in the sea. Yesterday Harry and I were the mystery guests at the Stingrays Club Gala and we ended up swimming through hoops and picking up bricks in an obstacle race. It was great fun, but there was a huge audience and I got very nervous. I just don't like competitive races and being watched. Interesting choice of sport then eh? Unfortunately we were supposed to swim at Sandhead beach today for our first ocean dip, but my health let me down at the last minute. Very disappointing. Next week we will be there and there will be pix to prove it. Talking of health...get well soon Maggie.
Thanks too to John who has been helping to educate me now I am chief website editor...a very patient man!

March 30th 2008

Hi Everyone
Well I have been silent for nearly a month and I do apologise. Part of this is because sometimes I feel like I am talking to myself. I haven't had much feedback and nobody leaves comments. Either I am boring you to tears or nobody is visiting. IS ANYONE OUT THERE? I do agree that the website is dull and uninteresting and I promise we are about to rectify this.
I have some sad news. Karen O Pray has been our fearless coordinator since we started fundraising last year and sadly she is moving away. The call of the South has stolen her heart and she leaves us as the end of April. Thanks you for all your hard work Karen, you will be greatly missed. Here is an update of our achievements since Karen has been at the helm.

We received a generous donation from all at George St who collected donations instead of buying each other Christmas cards. Thanks to all my colleagues for this.

There have been two very successful handbag and jewellery swaps at Dunbae House.

We now have a regular spot at the car boot sale at the Millennium Centre in Stranraer on the last Sunday of each month. We have been there twice and I'd like to thank Karen and Paula for today....yes and you Pauline I'm coming to you later! and Mark, Ann and Matt for the February slot. There is a rota of people covering the sessions.

We are running a one off quiz night at Bar 12 in Stranraer on Wed night April 2nd. We have some fierce and competitive teams registered to play for an amazing prize......pst anyone know what the prize is?

Bar 12 are also putting on an event which involves Elvis sometime in May so watch this space cos I thought he was dead. Dates to be confirmed.

I was put in touch with a group of musicians from Combined Services in Dumfries who run a charity event every year and they had chosen Alzheimer's this year by chance. They were happy to channel the money through our fund and I attended the event which was a brilliant evening of live bands including a ceilidh. They have raised over £400 for us and I should receive a cheque soon. Thanks to Harry Thompson and Rory for this.

Thanks also to Clare Bannister who passed round a hat at an International Women's day event and gave us a donation of £25.

Meanwhile there is a lively group of Women who got together at the instigation of Val Williams to plan an event later in the year. It sounds like its going to be a hidden talent show called 'Sink or Swim' Just fabulous and thanks to all.

Other pending events include putting a couple of indoor rowing machines on the boat to Ireland, and rowing to Ireland in a relay while rattling buckets....great idea and thanks to Alan McCamon for this idea....we just need a date.

We also now have a logo which I intend to publish on here when I find out how to do it!!! Thanks to Ailsa for organising the logo and the artist who designed it...name to follow..

So, who on earth is going to pull all this together now we are losing the fair Karen? Well, by democratic vote, the lovely Pauline Baxter has agreed to take up this awesome role. Thanks so much Pauline!

So, in between all this I guess I need to be swimming to justify all this attention and effort.

I am managing three sessions a week with the Stingrays and on the whole I row on the other days. I must say my confidence is waning at times and I think I need to get in the ocean as soon as possible. I know I am getting stronger, but no faster which is OK.

I think that is enough for now.....watch this space and please don't give up on me now.

March 1st 08

As I have already said February was a very busy month which we were prepared for but it has been wild. On reflection the Guernsey trip was very interesting and I can't say I was at home there. I was concerned about the fact that the States of Guernsey do not adhere to UK legislation and I thought they were vulnerable as workers and users of the service. I met some good people there but when events began to unfold in Jersey I felt a chill to say the least. I realise that Guernsey is separate to Jersey but there is a sense of familiarity when I hear about their independence and leaving themselves vulnerable to mistakes and secrets. All we can to is commit ourselves to helping where we can and improving standards for everyone.
I was only back for a week which was chaos at work and then we were away again up to Dryman to celebrate Betty's (gorgeous mother in law) 80th birthday. All inclusive, we felt obliged to drink as much as we could.......
So, training has suffered hugely and I am now struggling back to form. We got back from Dryman on Thursday and I was in the pool every day until Sunday when I rowed. Phew....
I feel I am catching up again but diet and weight loss have been on hold
I won't give up.........no way.

February 16th

Guernsey was very very busy and I met some great new friends. It's an interesting place and I learnt a huge amount from the survey itself and the practice I witnessed as well as from the team I worked with. You get close to people quickly when you are working so closely in a team. Talk about bonding!!
This week I have called my 'sandwich' week. This is becasue I was away in Guernsey last week, and next week we are celebrating Bettys 80th birthday in an all inclusive hotel near to Loch Lomond. Are you keeping up?Peachy!
The sandwich week was predictably chaotic and I have been in Dumfries most of the week. For many reasons I have only managed one swim and it was a corker! I have been rowing, but I feel that my diet and fitness have suffered for work. I knew it would and I am trying to stay calm because I know I can get back on track and I have made choices along the way.
I am looking forward to swimming with Harry on Friday evening. Its ages since we have swum together and I hope I don't sink after my party week with Betty and co.........ha!

Feb 3rd

Hi Everyone
We went to see KD Lang on Tuesday night at Glasgow Concert Hall. It was an amazing concert and her voice just gets better and better. She sang all our favorites, and the atmosphere was brilliant. She makes you feel like she is singing to you and creates a rapport with a large audience.
I swam with the Stingrays a couple of times this week and one session was very creative. We swam 25 meters at a time and got out to do various exercises like using weights and doing The Plank which is a difficult strength exercise. I enjoyed it and can feel it in my muscles....... The kids really enjoyed it and it breaks the monotony of endless lengths.
I'm off to Guernsey today for an intense week of work. I've never been there so it'll be interesting. Not sure how the training will go this week so we'll watch this space.

Jan 26th

I haven't written for a couple of weeks so here is an update. The week beginning Jan 14th was busy from a training perspective and I acheived two significant things. I feel I am beginning to keep up with the young Stingrays although this could be a feeling rather than a reality! However, for the first time I managed to do the hypoxic breathing exercise. This is a series of lengths of the pool (25 meters) with increasing and decreasing breath patterns like this;
All Freestyle
Two lengths breathing every 3 strokes
One length breathing every 3 strokes and one length breathing every 5 strokes
One length breathing every 3 strokes and one length breathing every 7 strokes
One length breathing every 3 strokes and one length breathing every 9 strokes
One length breathing every 3 strokes and one length breathing every 7 strokes
One length breathing every 3 strokes and one length breathing every 5 strokes
One length breathing every 3 strokes and one length breathing every 3 strokes...
Finish
Looks easier than it is believe me.... but I would be interested to see how you get on if you want to give it a go. I had to build it up amd I know the exercise has improved my swimming and my overall fitness.

The second thing I achieved was in the rowing. Harry asked me to do 2000 meters in splits of 500 keeping the average time for 500m at 2 mins 20 secs. Then the last 500 meters to push it to under 2 mins. I managed to do this and got the time to under 2 mins by pushing really hard for a few seconds...... I could hear Harry's voice in my head shouting 'PULL Ros!!!!' Scary now I'm hearing voices.

This last week has been challenging as work has been in the way. I haven't been in the pool since Friday night (18th) and I have been to Edinburgh since Tuesday night at a huge conference run by an organisation called PEPE. (Practical Experiences in Professional Education) The conference was fabulous and will definately influence the way I work so I am excited about that. There were people there who had written Social Work books that I have had on my shelf for years, and I found out they are just people after all........

I did really well with my diet in spite of being surrounded by temptation and I made up for lack of exercise on Thurs night when they laid on a big dinner dance and I danced for 3 hours....feeling fit and well, I saw off people half my age. It was strange doing the dozey-doh with some of the authors I have admired for years. That's what its all about.

Since I got home I have been on the Rowing machine and it feels great. Must go.......

Jan 12th 08

This week has been challenging as I am back at work full time and my training has been more difficult. I swam with the Stingrays on Monday night. They were doing some long distance which is great for me, although 500m in 8 mins is too fast for me. I ended up swimming for an hour and a half fairly constantly, and my arms are feeling it. In a way I seemed to get stronger the longer I swam which is a good feeling, and I guess is what I am aiming for. I swam again on Thursday morning and got very tired and hungry. Harry thinks I am doing too much and I have to watch it. He said if I don't eat after a session, and push too hard it can negatively effect the immune system. The last thing I need is a cold! So, we are now looking at 2 heavy sessions a week, either on the rower or in the pool and two days rest in between. I also need to make sure I don't get hungry.
While I was swimming this week I pondered on my past swimming experience. The ocean swimming in Hawaii began purely because of one woman.....Lenore Rick. She is an amazing runner and swimmer who loves taking part in events. She is inspirational and positive about saying yes to adventures. I am forever grateful to her and I have wonderful memories of swimming the Maui Channel and other open water events with her. We also visited the under water world together, scuba diving with our friends and partners. What a life eh?