Swim for the iPhone

Becoming an athlete has changed my life. I have always been pretty motivated, but I have always been motivated in creative endeavors, which are hard to benchmark, and rely on other people to assess “value” or achievement. Being a Triathlete is not like that. I run my own race, for the most part, and I am always striving to beat my last PR. The amount of work that I do in training directly relates to my success. It is pretty scientific, you can see it in a graph, absolute. I like that. There are variables, but you define the variables and the constants and then experiment. There is not a lot left to chance. It is empowering and I wish more people were like that these days (If you ever wonder how many “victims” we have in our society, just take a look at how many lawsuits are clogging our court system, sad.) Most importantly, being an athlete is about setting a goal, working towards it and seeing tangible results from your efforts. Cause and effect. It is a constant reminder for me that I get back what I put in. I have learned this and this is what I want for my Daughters!

Back in January, Apple announced the IPhone. Brittany, Jasmine and I were sitting around the table gawking at the video explaining all of it’s amazing features. We all wanted one. So I devised a plan. I told them that if they started running, I would pay them for their miles. I came up with a nice round number, 250 miles for the $500 iPhone. $2 dollars a mile. It sounded like a lot to them and it was, but I knew that if they stuck with it that long they would be hooked and learn a great lesson at the same time. So, I bought them each an IPod Nano and the Nike + IPod sports kit, which tracks your miles and pace. The “Run for the iPhone” challenge was born.

Brittany and Jasmine were off and running. The iPhone came out at the end of June. At that time I was the only one who had completed my miles but Brittany was not far behind. Jasmine developed pain in her hips, but more about that later. Brittany completed her 250 miles in August. She opted to not get the iPhone and instead take cash, which was an option. She spent her money on clothes. You know how women are. I am happy to report that she is now a “real runner.” She has close to 500 miles logged and is training for her first marathon in February ’08 having done several other races including 2, 1/2 marathons.

Jasmine was sidelined with hip problems, so we needed to figure out another challenge for her. Her Doctor said that swimming would be great therapy and it is a low impact sport. So, she is now “Swimming for the iPhone.” Based on the original challenge, I figured that they could comfortably run a 12:00 mile which is 5 miles an hour. So 250 miles would translate to 50 hours of running. Luckily for Jasmine, the iPhone price has come down to $400 for the 8 GiG model so she only needs to do 40 hours of swimming. I figure that she can work up to and swim 1 MPH comfortably. One mile in a 25 meter pool is roughly 32 laps. So, the math is, $10 an hour per 1 mile of swimming for a total of 40 miles. Or .31 cents a lap for 1280 laps. It sounds like a lot but we will be going 3 times a week for an hour a session so it should only take about 13 weeks. We started last night and we had a great time. Jasmine looks like a natural. She looks very comfortable in the water. She watched the “Total Immersion” DVD and did a few drills and swam a few laps.

Man, I love it when a good plan comes together!

Stay tuned for updates on Jasmine's progress.

Paul