Dog Lake

Dog Lake
Originally uploaded by rfin.

Skyshot

Skyshot
Originally uploaded by rfin.

God's Barcode

God's Barcode
Originally uploaded by rfin.

Swimming for the Gold

I wanted to swim in high school, but in those days, long before "no fear" became a marketing phrase, I couldn't motivate myself to attend the tryouts. If I'd heard Woody Allen's quote that "90 percent of life is showing up," I didn't understand it. The closest I got to competitive swimming as a teenager was photographing our state-championship team at the nearly-new University of Utah Natatorium in 1972.

"Life comes at you fast," as the life insurance commercial says. I finished high school and college, married a beautiful young school teacher and we're now the parents of children who are in high school and college themselves.

My career eventually led to a great job at the University of Utah, and a few years ago I started swimming on my lunch hours at same natatorium where my friends made their mark three decades ago.

U of U Natatorium Originally uploaded by rfin.

Thanks to a local swim shop, I discovered the life work of Terry Laughlin, founder of Total Immersion Swimming (TI), a method of instruction for adults seeking to hone their swimming skills. Terry's books, tapes and Web site made sense and I began to swim with greater confidence, better flow and even a little faster.

Through Terry I also met a Utah TI swimmer who has won senior triathlons. This summer he invited me to compete at the Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George. "Since you're 50 now, so why don't you sign up?"

Prior to the games I had never raced, never stood in the blocks before a motionless pool as a starter instructed "swimmers take your mark." By Friday afternoon I'd raced in six events at the beautiful Sand Hollow Aquatic Center. Last night at the awards banquet I heard these still unbelievable words, "From Utah, Richard Finlinson, two gold, one silver, one bronze."

The wins are both thrilling and humbling. Thrilling because they were so unexpected. Humbling because my fastest times are slower than winners in their seventies and eighties.

But to win, I only had to do better than other men in my age group of 50-54. In two of my races, the other scheduled competitors didn't show up. I got lucky, but I've never been more motivated to keep striving to improve. Below are my results and the comparisons that put my times in perspective.

100 M Gold 1:27.67 (1:01.49)* 200 M Gold 3:31.29 (2:14.66)* 400 M Bronze 8:33.74 (4:45.72)* 800 M Silver 16:38.10 (9:50.53)*

*FINA Masters 50-54 World Records Short Course Meters as of 05-01-04.

A Few More Things I'm Grateful For

Way back in May I made wrote an entry called "50 things I'm grateful for in my 1st 50 years." The list still stands, but here are 50 more just to make it an even hundred. Hey Thanksgiving is not that far away. I've got to get in some practice.

51. challenging work and associates with a sense of humor
52. opportunities to be creative
53. fall colors and pencil sketches
54. noticing the colors
55. and how there's a different quality in the fall light
56. a working furnace
57. the book "14,000 Things to be Happy About"
58. the author Barbara Ann Kipfer
59. how her work probably inspired this list
60. higher education
61. public education
62. libraries
63. the power of example
64. words and smiles of encouragement
65. definitions
65. people who help you define yourself
66. children as kids
67. children as teens
68. children as adults
69. hard lessons and software
70. soft answers and hardware
71. turning away wrath
72. a box of fresh crayons
73. a box of old crayons
74. Joseph will have a pencil*
75. red rock and rusticating
76. blue sky and blessing
77. my great grandpa's diary
78. my dad's letters
79. my mom's photographs
80. my wife's patience
81. my kids just hanging out
82. eye contact and contacts for eyes
83. glasses, goggles and gloves
84. a blue oragami crane
84. leather bound journals
85. ink on paper
86. today's
87. this year's and this decade's
89. and from as early as 1930
90. words as fresh as they were then
91. conversation and laughter
92. comfortable silence
93. synchronicities
94. fireworks and Christmas lights
95. classical and country, jazz and rock
96. piano, guitar and other strings
97. digital photography
98. good old chemical photography
99. dodging, burning and Photoshop
100. safety in the storms

*The young son of an English immigrant is known in his 1870's community as the boy who always has a pencil handy. He follows his father and brothers in the cattle business, but also trains as a teacher. Later he becomes a school superintendent, state legislator, one of the founders of a rural telephone company. And in the midst of the Great Depresssion he encourages all of his children -- both sons and daughters -- to graduate from college. It takes a while, but they all do.

A week since Capitol Reef

capreef
Originally uploaded by rfin.

Here's another shot from last weekend's trip to Capitol Reef.