Thursday, March 18, 2010
In May, longtime Steamboat Springs resident John Ward jumped into the lap pool at Old Town Hot Springs and began working toward a personal goal, 5,000 yards at a time.
“I was just swimming laps, and I started doing the math,” he said. “I figured that if I swam 5,000 yards for 200 days then I would reach a million before the end of the year. It’s really not that much, but that’s the goal I set for myself.”
Ward started working toward that goal in May and had reached his goal of 1 million yards by Feb. 14 — well ahead of his May 2010 deadline.
Diane Hagihara, the front desk manager at Old Town Hot Springs, said she sees a lot of people who come to the pool to swim laps on a regular basis but thinks Ward might be the first who has set his goal to reach the 1-million-yard mark — at least, he’s the first she knows about.
She said Ward’s dedication and consistency have helped him stand out at the health facility in downtown Steamboat Springs. His story came to light in December, after an employee asked him how often he swam, and he revealed his goal of making it to 1 million yards within a year. He was named member of the month at the Old Town Hot Springs that month, at which point he was 75 percent of the way to his goal.
“It was kind of a personal goal I set for myself,” Ward said. “I only told one person, but it has kind of gotten out.”
Ward’s family moved here in the 1960s, and he grew up in Steamboat. He said he attended local schools and was a member of the swim team when he was younger. Ward will turn 50 in June, and he said he returned to swimming to stay in shape.
He said when he first started swimming, his goal was to make 10 laps across the pool. He gradually added more laps as he got into better shape, and he was swimming regularly when he set the goal of making it to a million yards in May.
Ward says he loves the Old Town Hot Springs pool and said the facility and friendly staff make getting to the pool and swimming a pleasure.
It takes him about an hour and a half to swim 100 laps, or 200 lengths, across the pool each day, which is 5,000 yards. He describes his style as slow but steady. He took a few cold days off this winter, but as he got closer to reaching his goal, he was motivated to get into the pool nearly every day.
“I swam more than a few days when the temperature was below zero,” Ward said. “I wouldn’t say I ran into any really big challenges, but there were a few times when it was hard to go down and get in the water.”
Ward said he dropped a few pounds while chasing his goal but wasn’t sure exactly how many.
“There were all kinds of positive things that came out of this,” he said, “both mentally and physically.”
In his spare time, he works as a J6 coach at the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, where he teaches 8- and 9-year-old skiers the benefits of setting goals and staying in shape. He said his efforts have helped him keep pace with the young athletes who look to him for direction.
As far as future goals, Ward has at least one more.
“I want to go skiing in Chile,” he said. “I’m not sure when it’s going to happen, but that’s my goal now.”