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Mid-February Update
February 12, 2011
by Tasha Capen
In this edition:

February Can-Do Challenge

New to the team? Wondering why workouts are suddenly more crowded? And what are those big charts obscuring the bulletin board in the lobby, anyway?? Welcome to the 2011 February Can-Do Challenge!

This is a 20-year tradition for the team, when we challenge ourselves and each other to build our aerobic base by swimming maximum yardage targets.  There are awards for meeting either a 50,000 yard or 100,000 yard total during the month. And to extend the benefit of our collective hard work to others, we each donate a can of food (Can-Do!) for every 2000 yards we swim.  Menlo Swim and Sport matches the donation with dollars and all of it goes to the Menlo Park Senior Center's Brown Bag Program. Last year we donated thousands of cans and hundreds of dollars!

So add up your yards, find your name on the board and record your totals each day. As of Sat Feb 12, Nicole Cadman is out in front with 133,300 yards, followed closely by Mitchell Johnson (127,000) and Kent Stietzel (114,100). Keep on swimming!


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Upcoming Team Events

Rinconada, Mar 12
Our team's initial foray into the short course yards season, the Rinconada meet, is coming up. We always have a great team turnout (we had the most swimmers there of any team in 2010!), so make plans to join us - it's close by and easy to get to!

You'll find meet info and online registration at:
https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1469&smid=2831
Note that mail-in entries must be postmarked by February 25, while online entry closes March 9.

Trans-Tahoe Relay, July 23
Teams are forming - we have 3 teams entered so far and a few looking for more swimmers. The race is 11 miles long, swum by teams of 6 swimmers. The race is very popular and does sell out way in advance, so we ask that you plan ahead and register soon to be assured a spot.

To express interest, and to see who else is going, check out our team doc:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AtUOxuTLNrE0dG43U1hMTWlHbDhjSE5xSkhQWUVfNlE&hl=en&authkey=COC0-9QH
Note that once you've formed a team, you need to register directly with the Olympic Club at:
https://www.clubassistant.com/club/clinics/reserve.cfm?c=1128&cid=49127


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A Million Yards Anyone?

Now that you're racking up all these yards in February, why not stay on pace and do a "few" more to reach 1,000,000 yards this year?  Just continue to total your yards from each workout, then enter your monthly totals on the team tracking sheet:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AtUOxuTLNrE0dFZJdXdFZ1dZZnF5Y0syUndLREdpcXc&authkey=CMGNosMD&hl=en#gid=0

And so far we have 16 intrepid Year-Rounders who chalked up January 10,000 yard swims, and many of those have their Feb swim complete too! Watch their progress at:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tFXCOp4bhQsIrulYXDUL14g&hl=en#gid=1.


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Meet Our New Swimmers of the Year!

On Jan 29, Miki Armstrong and Bill Dawson introduced us to our new Swimmers of the Year, Barbara Jones and Carl Mortensen - congratulations!

Bill shared a bit about how he and Miki came to pick Carl and Barb: "[Our selections] exemplify values that make participating in this sport and on this team the great pleasure that it is: cheerfulness, persistence, a love of swimming as a sport, and commitment to the rest of us who make up Menlo Masters.

In addition, [they] have demonstrated the qualities of courage and modesty in the face of strong adversity. Due to physical setbacks these individuals may not have been able to set records this year, attended many meets, or even made as many workouts as they would have liked to.

These individuals have exemplified for the rest of us great strength of character and are a testament to the power of the human spirit."

So just a bit about Barbara and Carl:

Barbara Jones has been a member of the team for ?? years. She began swimming at the age of 5 and continued through college at UCSB. She also has a passion for water polo, and has had success at the national level with her teams. She participates with our own Menlo Mavens team now. A friendly lanemate, Barb is also a fierce competitor - especially in sprint distances of freestyle and backstroke. She has 30 team records and 27 US Masters Top Ten times, including a US Master #1 in 2008 for LCM 50 free. Barb's drive extends well beyond the pool as demonstrated by her recently earned masters degree in anthropology - done while also raising her teenage children! She has also undergone four shoulder surgeries,  working hard to regain and maintain her swimming form throughout. Her last surgery was a little over a year ago. She's swimming well, and we look forward to having her back at meets and setting even more records!

Carl Mortensen was one of the original Menlo Masters, and has been a devoted member of the team for 20 years. He was both a high school and college swimmer (University of California at Berkeley). Carl retired several years ago, after a distinguished career as a physicist/seismologist with the US Geologic Survey in  Menlo Park.  While he hasn't had an opportunity to compete much in recent years, he is no slouch in that arena!  Carl still holds 7 individual team records an equal number of relay records, favoring breaststroke and IM events. Approximately 3 years ago Carl was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of eye cancer which is usually fatal. He has since undergone a regimen of experimental drugs, which include getting shots directly into his left eye every two months. Throughout, he has tenaciously dedicated himself to his swimming regimen, and somehow maintains balance and a sense of humor.

Congratulations to Carl and Barb, and thank you for continuing to act as role models for how to navigate adversity with courage, modesty and grace.


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Keep in Touch with Teammates...

In January we launched a Google Group for the team and we have 118 members already.  The group works just like a mailing list, allowing you to send messages to everyone in the group with one simple email address. You can coordinate Year-Rounder days, get advice about gear, find a carpool to a team event, see team results and so on.

Note: You do NOT need to have a Google account to use the group list (though it does make looking up past posts easier...)

If you've not yet joined, but want to, you have 3 options:

1) Find the invitation that was sent to you on Jan 16 and reply using the   link provided. (We used your email address from the roster on the Menlo   Masters website.)

2) If you have a Google account already, or don't mind creating one, you   can send an email to: Menlo-masters+subscribe@googlegroups.com, and follow  the instructions provided.

3) If neither of the above options works for you, contact Tasha Capen at  tasha@menlomasters.com, and we'll sort it out!

We still have our Facebook group as well - search for Menlo Masters Swim Team to request to join.


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For Your Calendars...

**2011 Team Competitions**
  - *March 12* - Rinconada Swim Meet (Palo Alto)
  - *April 8-10* - Pac Masters Short Course Yards Swim Meet (Pleasanton)
  - *July 8-10* - Pac Masters Long Course Meters Swim Meet (Santa Cruz)
  - *July 23* - Trans-Tahoe Open Water Relay (Lake Tahoe)
  - *September 25* - Mountain View Swim Meet (Mountain View)
  - *October 14-16* - Pac Masters Short Course Meters Swim Meet (Walnut   Creek)

**2011 Team Events**
  - *January* - One Hour Swim, Swimmer of the Year Party
  - *February* - 50K, 100K and 100 mile club, all month long
  - *March* - Menlo Blue and Yellow Meet
  - *April* - Swim/Run-Duathlon
  - *August* - Summer BBQ
  - *September* - Dynamic Duo
  - *October* - Killer Quad I (KQI) Hour Swim, ~Halloween
  - *November* - KQII 50x100s, ~Thanksgiving
  - *December* - KQIII 75x100s, ~Christmas, and KQIV 100x100s, ~New Year's


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