Eileen Swanson's Tales

SF and Team Lemon

>>May 12th, 2009
Having fun in the city on Thursday night, prepping for camp!

Leading the talk on swim exit startegy

Giving my swimmers some tips during our test swim on Friday

The infamous Sand Ladder, and this is only half way up…

Another beautiful weekend in the Bay Area!! Reid and I headed into the city on Thursday night for another 3 day Escape from Alcatraz Camp. 3 down and 2 more to go. What a great experience for everyone! The coaches, athletes and their families all had an amazing time. We had 14 first timers to the sport of triathlon taking our camp. These newbies are so much fun to coach. They have this excitement and contagious positive vibe about them. Very cool!! And I am excited that I got in another swim from Alcatraz Island to St Francis Yacht Club, 71 times and counting and another friendly seal encounter ;-) Another SUPER COOL piece of news to report….I ran for the first time after 19 days of being injured. WOOHOO, my foot ached a bit to start but then it felt so good and all the endorphins kicked in and I was feeling on top of this world. Wow, it is amazing what we take for granted untul it is taken away from us. I had the best time running with our camp athletes and showing them the Alcatraz run course. It truly was a spectacular 3 day camp!!

Leading my swim group across the SF Bay ;-)

On another note, I wanted to share some more exciting news. Lululemon is launching a running and triathlon team in the Bay area (and across the country too!) Team Lemon is a group of athletes committed to training and racing for events together and having a ton of fun along the way! For those of you who want a super fun, diverse group to be a part of, this is the group for you. To find out more and to join send an email to teamlemon-sanfran@lululemon.com AND remember to join us in Walnut Creek on May 29th for the Grand Opening of Lululemon, right in the heart of downtown!!

Grinning from ear to ear during my first run back in 19 days ;-) )

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Anniversary Ride and 70th Bay crossing

>>April 20th, 2009
Yup, 4 years!!

At the top of Mt Diablo, what a beautiful day!

This past Thursday was our 4th anniversary. It’s hard to believe that it seems like not too long ago that we had just met. I guess, having so much fun always is what keeps us super happy!! We decided to spend the day by having a great breakfast, going on a long walk with Belle, then riding up Mount Diablo. We had such a great time riding up the mountain together, enjoying each other’s company and laughing about how Reid always has to half wheel me ;-) HAHA! There was even snow at the 3000 ft level of the mountain. Here’s proof!

After we got to the top, we took some fun pictures. It’s pretty amazing how much we take for granted living in the Bay Area. We have some of the most beautiful rides and views. You can see the entire Bay Area and even as far as the state capitol on a very clear day!

Later that night we headed to SF to get ready for the start of the 3 day Escape from Alcatraz camp that we head up. We had a great dinner at Dragon Well, one of my favorite little restaurants in the Marina. Friday was the start of the super fun camp. We had particiapnts fly in from as far as Maine and New York to take our 3 day camp. What an amazing experience for all of us. We go over every mile, yard, inch of the swim, bike and run with everyone. We even do the entire swim from Alcatraz Island to St Francis Yacht Club. This swim took place today. We have 3 escort boats that take us to the island and follow us during the entire swim. Such a unique and incredible experience. Today marked my 70th Alcatraz swim!! I am very lucky to get to swim with the athletes during all of these camps and clinics that we provide. I love helping athletes out by providing encouragement and motivation and sometimes letting them rest by holding onto me ;-) Today’s swim was very different. I swam with the lead boat and 3 really accomplished swimmers. So we only stopped a couple of times to make sure we were all together and taking the best line, which is very tricky on this course. We made it to shore in a great time, although a couple of us overshot and ended up at Crissy Field beach, just another 100 meters to the right of the StFrancis Yacht club! Afert 70 crossings, each time is still unique and more fun than the last ;-) )

Post swim, everyone was so stoked!!

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