October and Chlorine

“Peak Weekend is traditionally an excellent recruiting tool” my swim coach, Bob Clemmer, likes to say. I can only hope our swim recruit this year’s Peak Weekend liked hiking through water as much as swimming through it. My favorite SLU tradition was more damp than usual this fall, to say the least.

my sunny sophomore Peak Weekend

To the breathless mountaineers who tackled a 46er (or way more than one!) this month, tradition might be enjoying October from a fiery peak.To me, tradition could be hiking and biking and Tuesday Blues-attending. But my real tradition is swim practice: every evening and three mornings a week, plus Saturdays and the occasional competition now that the season’s in full swing. My schedule’s unbearably chlorinated and my skin demands layers of lotion and baby oil, but I still have room for my beloved campus traditions. Most of them are swimming-related, yes. But as I'm writing this post on the bus home from a swim meet, I think that makes sense.

and the trail, this year.

Columbus Day has meant Quadathlon Day since my freshman year, and my team gets an unheard-of practice off for another of my favorite SLU traditions. The fastest group of one swimmer, one biker, two canoes and a runner wins an enviable Quadathlon t-shirt each year. No, this year wasn’t the one, even if my summer biking made my leg unexpectedly speedy. But I made sure to wear my “Quadathlon 2008” shirt all day just the same. I’m not sure whether I hoped to prove my past quadathlon success or to show off the fact that unlike our now-freshman, I was actually alive in 2008.

awaiting the Quadathlon swim start

Pulling a folded Hill News newspaper from my campus mailbox every Friday is another treasured St. Lawrence tradition. Friday is for napping now that swimming’s in season, but pajamatime is as good as any to page through my school newspaper. The Hill News reports all of the activities and personalities making moves on campus this week, and connects any big world events—Kenya’s invasion of Somalia and its effect on our Kenya program, for example—to the St. Lawrence community. Plus there’s the security blotter: that “I know him!” moment just never gets old.

To the swim team, ringing the SLU liberty bell to celebrate a dual men’s and women’s home victory (barefoot in our swimsuits through the snow, of course) is another favorite tradition. Only my ladies team won our last home meet over Clarkson, but with three more home competitions there’s still time for some freezing runs to that bell. Our next meet is this coming Saturday against RIT at 1pm; if you’re visiting St. Lawrence for Homecoming Weekend, stop by our pool! The more people cheering, the more likely we are to hear you underwater.

my October St. Lawrence

Morning practice is always a little too early. But biking under a shower of maple leaves, illuminated by the earliest rays of sun, from the pool to my 8:30 Screenwriting class makes my morning practice tradition almost totally worthwhile. Add eating all I ever want at Dana dining hall, and my reasons for swimming are complete.