Back in my country, I used to have a swimming buddy who was also my childhood friend. She and I were competitive partners. We would always have friendly races like how many laps we could swim within 10 minutes and so on.
I completely stopped swimming when I came to US....Perhaps I haven't found a swimming buddy and don't want to go alone? I am not sure what the reason is but I do seriously miss swimming in the pool. I miss my swimming buddy. I miss our friendly competitive races. :(