It’s entirely possible that anyone visiting the Sedona Community Pool might bump into Peter Sorando. The 64-year-old is in the pool three times a week swimming laps.

What someone seeing Sorando may not realize is that over the last two decades, he’s encountered a number of serious health issues. Swimming is one of the things that has not only helped keep him alive, but healthy.

“It’s the kind of thing that’s an easy exercise to love,” Sorando said. “It doesn’t have the physical demands of all the exercises I’ve done. I even lift weights. You just don’t have the kind of dramatic muscle actions that you have in the pool. I start off nice and slow — not trying to set a world record or anything. By the end of the swim, I feel much better than at the beginning of the swim.”

The first of Sorando’s health concerns appeared when he was 45 and visiting Sedona from Northern Virginia. While working out with some weights, he felt what he described as “a terrible stinging in both hands.” Upon returning to Northern Virginia, a rheumatologist diagnosed Sorando’s condition as lupus. That was later followed by a pulmonary embolism. Three years later as a Sedona resident, he spent 21 days in a hospital in Flagstaff, dealing with what his doctors believe was valley fever.

In 2008, Sorando had a heart attack. He had another in 2014. He then went on a diet that featured fish, vegetables, fruits and low sugar. Sorando noted that over the last five years, his health issues haven’t persisted.
Another positive change came when Sorando joined his wife, Susan, for a swimming class.

“My wife decided to take a swimming class at the pool and I went with her,” Sorando said. “At that point it was difficult doing one lap down. She continued with swimming classes through summer. I continued to do laps. We started doing laps as often as we could — three to four times a week.”

Now, Sorando’s swimming routine consists of 50 lengths of the 25-yard pool, or 25 full laps. He noted that he’d eventually like to get up to a full mile but also conceded that the current swims of 1,250 yards — more than 500 yards short of a mile — provide plenty of challenges in their own right.

“You definitely feel the fatigue the next day,” Sorando said. “So we don’t want to be sleeping the rest of the week.”

In addition to helping him stay in shape, Sorando also said that he can feel potential health issues coming on when he’s in the water, leaving him plenty of time to get out and rest for a while. With other exercises, that is not the case.
Sorando also said that he and his wife are happy to have the pool back open. He conceded that things got tough during the COVID-19 shutdown.

“In the past couple of months as the pool was closed, I could feel a real denigration in my health — I kind of feel like I have to keep a good aerobic exercise,” Sorando said. “It’s such a nice easy exercise to flow into. It’s not like all of a sudden you’re lifting 20 pound weights. You can just flow across the pool.

“I think that’s why we like it and have continued it over the five years. Especially in the warm weather here, it’s a combination of exercise and a nice day at the pool. When they have the chairs out on the deck, I like sitting on the chairs, enjoying the view and relaxing and letting the air cool you off.… We just love the pool. I have got arthritis in my hips. I used to run when I was younger. The only thing I can really do now is swim. So we take full advantage of the pool when we can.”