The Greenline, Memphis

Chloe after the 7 miles on the Greenline, Memphis

The great, new children's park at Shelby Farms.  It was neat and had lots of shaded areas and a snack van out front made it tons of fun!

Chloe loves taking photos of animals.  These buffaloes were in the front entrance pasture at Shelby Farms.

Sunday, June 11, 2011

We spent Sunday afternoon over in Memphis for me to get in an open water swim with my fabulous instructor, Terry Green from the Fogelman YMCA in downtown Memphis.  Jackie decided that he and Chloe would ride the Greenline from Midtown Memphis to Shelby Farms, where my lesson was.  Well, after getting lost over near Union Ave and Parkway, I ended up dropping them at mile 2 near Walnut Grove and Highland.  I met Terry at Shelby Farms near 1:30 and much to my dismay, you can't swim at Shelby Farms.  That nearly killed me because I researched where the Wolfman Tri swim was and it was at Shelby Farms, so what gives?  Needless to say, we went to the lake near the wonderful, new children's park way behind the visitor's center.  We swam out and back twice in that cow lake, with water warm and cold at the same time, super murky and kinda scary to me.  With my ear plugs in and cap on, I could feel the panic set in looking across the lake and how far that shoreline was.  But, I made it.  Terry and I both agreed that the side stroke, freestyle and breaststroke were the choices for me in an open water situation.  I have to confess that growing up, I water skied all the time with a life jacket on and have had no fear of lakes.  But last summer at the Mighty Mite, in all the chaos of starting and worrying about my insulin pump etc, I just totally panicked.  I hope with swimming with my fabulous sister-in-law Kara at the country club, I can manage the 600 yards in a few weeks without panic.

Now to the Greenline...Jackie said it was great and they went along parts of Memphis he'd never seen.  He also reported that it was shaded and that crossing the streets with car traffic was no problem.  We rode from downtown Fayetteville to the Mall and back last fall, and it was worrisome crossing Gregg and other streets with heavy traffic.  Jackie pronounced the Greenline in great shape, sorry I don't have photos of it!  We are thinking that we should organize a ride along the Greenline with a picnic in tow.  We'll see!  Ya'll need to try the Greenline.  Here's the link: http://www.greatermemphisgreenline.org/ And I totally recommend lessons with Terry at the Fogelman YMCA in downtown Memphis.  -Keeli