swimming

My kids are done with summer. They had a great one. We had wonderful weather, spent a lot of time swimming in a warm lake, they played outside with their friends a lot, we took walks and went for bike rides…

The Olympic athlete holds the world record for the 200-m breaststroke. Here, she shares her lifelong dreams and what she'd never admit to

This week in Toronto, the temperature has consistently been in the 30s — and, once you factor in the humidex, the 40s. While that level of heat might sound like misery to some, I'm having a pretty great time. So why is the heat wave making me so happy?

Achieving a goal involves a strange mixture of elation and questioning. For nine months, I trained toward completing a triathlon. On Sunday, the day of reckoning arrived, and the race proceeded almost as I'd imagined it in my dreams: I didn't drown in the lake; I didn't have to change a flat tire by the side of the road; and my legs (and mind) held up during the run.

Yesterday, I wasn't Carrie — I was number 1463. It was inked on my arm in black. Yesterday, I competed in my first ever triathlon. Put it all together: 1500 metre swim, 40 km bike ride, and 10 km run. Let's just say there were a lot of buff bodies at the race site.