Reconnecting with His Passion: Greg Shaw, ex-hippie, Talks About His Latest Race.

By Amy Wu

THORNWOOD, New York, January 1. GREG Shaw, a member of the New England Masters, was pleasantly surprised when he churned out three short course Masters world records at the 2006 New England Masters Short Course Meters Championship from Dec. 15-17 at Boston University.

Shaw, 55, took home records of 100 IM (1:03.81), 1:00.35 for the 100 fly and 2:21.05 for the 200 IM. Shaw says that while he was fairly confident he could snag the time on the fly, he was surprised by his IM performances.

"I just wanted to get under 1:05 and something in low 1:04s," Shaw said in a phone interview. "To get 1:03…I was delighted and a little surprised by that."

Shaw does not divert from his training regimen, which consists of swimming anywhere from 2,500 to 3,000 yards on his own at the local "Y" some five days a week.

He stays mentally sharp by using visualization techniques, and running the race through his mind weeks before the event itself.

"I go into my own space and get my breathing to be deep and not shallow," Shaw said. "I stretch and try to feel loose, and completely focused so I can channel everything into an all-out effort."

Shaw started swimming Masters six years ago after a 30-odd year hiatus from competitive swimming. As a youth in Nebraska, he stroked his way to a scholarship at top swim school Arizona State University, but quit a year later after burning out on the sport, and dropped out a semester later.

"I was kind of a hippie and was looking for gurus," said the soft-spoken Shaw. "That whole time, swimming just didn't grab me. It wasn't fun, and seemed like a drag and I didn't want to do it."

He clearly remembers the breaking point that ended his college swimming career. On his way from practice one day, he ran into a dean at Arizona State.

"He said don't you want to go to the Olympics son?" Shaw recalls. "I remember thinking `No way.' I looked at him and said `No.' I just wasn't hungry for it."

Shaw later returned and graduated from college.

Despite the ups and downs of his competitive swim career, he says he never lost his passion for the water. He joined Masters after learning about it from a fellow swimmer at the "Y." He returned to competition and was inspired by the camaraderie of the Masters swimming community, and by watching the 80 and even 90-somethings swim in competition.

He regularly competes as a way to set goals for himself, and will most likely next tackle the New England Masters SCY Champs at Harvard University from March 23-25. He says swimming is a respite from his job as a religious studies professor at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass.

"I just really love the feeling of being in the water. It's my element or at least feels like my element," he said.

Although those days of cut throat competitive college swimming are behind him, Shaw says that he now savors the freedom that swimming brings him.

"It was my own decision my own pleasure," he said. "I work out when I want, however much I want. I race what I feel like racing. I wouldn't do it if I didn't like doing it."

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