Swimmer Goes Postal for 1650

I know Postal Swims are money making scams for swim teams.  But strangely I want to do one.  The 1650 Postal.   Oh and maybe another.

First of all a few times a year the USMS website will announce that some team is having some sort of Postal Swim.  Sometimes it's a checkoff in which in one years time a swimmer must swim a series of events at a swim meet.  This series of swim events could be one of every freestyle competitive event such as 50/100/200/500/1000/1650 yards.  Now the swimmer pays a small fee lets say $12.00 and you mail in your certified events results.  The team then keeps track of all the events on some easy to use computer software and annouces winners at the end of the year.  In the meantime you can purchase postal related merchandise from this group.  Tee shirts that you can then check off the events competed with a perm marker.  Maybe some mug or other crap that they have at Cafepress.  So for very little work a team can make a small amount of money.  Not too bad a deal.  So normally I'm not a big fan of them.  It's like USMS Top 10 Times I'm excited to get them but I won't pay for the patches.  It's a scam. 

Saying all that I am thinking of doing at least one this year.  The second one I'd like to   do is a 1650 Postal.  I just need to find some pool time to do it in a workout or lap swim and have someone timing me.  TAMALPAIS AQUATIC MASTERS is running one which you can read more about LINK.  Here is some general info on it:

WHAT YOU NEED:    A pool at least 25 yards in length and someone to time you.
 
DISTANCE:    1650 yards or 1500 meters swum in a meters pool (50 m. or 25 m).
 
DATE:    Anytime between Dec. 19, 2008 and February 28, 2009.
 
AGE DIVISIONS:    18-24, 25-29, 30-34, . . ., 100+, male and female

I really only want to do it as a gauge to see how I'd do in a 1650 swim.  I haven't swam the 1650 since 2007's Nationals in Federal Way.

Now the 1st and easiest postal that I wil do is The Go The Distance.  With this event you don't have to pay a fee to do it.  You just sign up and keep track of your yardage/meter-ige.  If you are metal and pin happy you can then spend you hard earned money on that type of stuff.  But for the most part it is free.   You can read more about it on the USMS website LINK.  Here is the gist of it:

The objective of this event is for participants to track the time and distance they swim during the calendar year.   When participants achieve specific distance milestones ranging from 50 miles through 1500 miles they will be recognized on the U.S. Masters Swimming website and awards will be available for purchase for a minimal fee. 

There is no cost to enter this event.  Participants are requested to email (or use snail mail) to submit the total distance they swim each month.  A list of miles per month, cumulative mileage and time spent will be tabulated for each swimmer.  Once a distance milestone is achieved awards will be available for purchase.

The Go The Distance was mentioned in my teams newsletter and Rob at Robaquatics is doing it so why not do it.  Plus I decided I wanted to keep track of my yardage for 2009 anyways.  Plus this one isn't a money making scam.  Well that is if I don't buy all the extra things.