Just add water to keep her swimming

Kathy Morlan, 51, swims six days and about 20,000 yards a week at Graham Aquatic Center.

Three surgeries to repair her right shoulder were enough for Kathy Morlan, who was just 17 years old when she retired from competitive swimming for fear of living the rest of her days in pain.

Morlan returned to the pool when she was 42 for the sake of her sanity. Her two children, Krysta and Aaron, suffer from a mitochondria disorder that is eating away at their physical capabilities.

Krysta, 27, is on her own but occasionally needs assistance from her parents. Aaron, 23, lives with Morlan and her husband, Ron, who will celebrate their 30^th wedding anniversary in July.

“Their situations are ever-changing,” Morlan said of her children. “It keeps you on your toes.”

Kathy Morlan takes a brief break during a workout.

The pool provides peace for Morlan, 51, who works as an instructional assistant at Alamo Elementary School in Vacaville. She swims six days and about 20,000 yards a week in the Pacific Masters program at Graham Aquatic Center.

“I needed an outlet from my stress,” Morlan said. “I needed to do something, something just for me.”

Her shoulder bothers Morlan from time to time, but the benefits of swimming outweigh the discomfort. She arrives at the center at 5:30 a.m. each weekday and usually swims for 90 minutes before racing off to work. Her Saturday workouts last even longer.

All those laps will pay off Saturday, when Morlan competes in a Pacific Masters event at Lake Berryessa. In what has become an annual ritual, Morlan will swim in both the 1- and 2-mile races.

“It’s just my personality,” she said. “I want to get the best bargain for my money. It’s cheaper per swim if you do both of them.”

Pacific Masters events are also held at pools, but Morlan prefers the challenge of being in open water.

“It’s so free in open water, and so quiet,” she said. “When you’re walking or running, you can hear things. You can still hear noise. When I’m in the water, it’s like being in my own world. It’s so nice.”

Morlan plans to swim as long as her shoulder can take it. She has worked on rolling her body in the water to alleviate the strain on her shoulder and ices the joint as preventative maintenance.

“I still want to be doing this in 20 years,” she said. “There are people in their 80s who are doing this, and some of them didn’t start until they were 50 or 60 years old. I want to do this when I’m 80.”