Exhausted. That is the word that describes me mentally, emotionally and physically right now. I am sure that all of my fellow teammates could attest to this same feeling as well. I promised in my post "All Season Long" that I would update and reflect on how the rest of my swim season went.....
Unbelievable. This is the best description of my regional swim meet that I talked about in that previous post. It was our first shaved meet, our brand new Fastskins (read "Hightech Swim Suits) were ready to go, it was a home meet, we were just plain ready. Everything started off great with the first race of the day- the medley relay. I happen to be the breaststroker on this relay and we raced to a second place finish right behind our arch-rivals Linn-Mar. We both broke the pool record but that red and black team touched us out. The unbelievable swims just kept coming. Every swimmer having lifetime after lifetime (personal best) in every race and the crowd roaring was incredible. My 200 IM was my best time by three seconds and I just missed the podium by .09. This was so hard to swallow as the swimmer right ahead of me was from you guessed it--Linn-Mar.
The battle for first place (between Kennedy and Linn-Mar) continued. Then, one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to me in swimming occurred. My 200 free relay broke the school record! Once again we broke the pool record as well, but Linn-Mar touched us out. The feeling was indescribable. Anyone who has ever received any type of reward for work that they have put in knows what I'm talking about. The moment of screaming and hugging my teammates will never be forgotten by any of us. The meet followed with more fast swims and it came down to the last few events. Unfortunately we lost by 1 point. 1 point! Oh my gosh this was like trying to swallow fire. The amount of emotion, excitement and disappointment, was so large I felt like I was just hit by a truck.
Well, off to State it was! The following week was filled with more technique based practices and goal setting meetings and lots of pasta dinners! The school send off was a blast, with the whole State team wearing our classy, Nike half zip jackets. We headed up to Marshalltown on Friday to get settled into the hotel and to watch the diving meet for awhile (we didn't qualify any divers this year). Saturday, after shaving we arrived at the meet. The butterflies and anticipation started to kick in immediately after we got to the pool....
The swims were all really great. As a team, we hoped for a little bit more but all in all we swam very well. Our medley relay got 7th place (one off the podium), the 200 free relay got 10th place and the 400 free relay got 9th place. We had great individual races as well. Part of the whole State tradition is that we go to Dairy Queen after the meet. Being able to hang out and relax was really good for all of us. It was so fun to celebrate our success!
So here I am now, reflecting on this past season trying to relax. I can't believe how much fun I had and how sad I am that it is over. The team became such great friends and it's going to be weird not seeing them everyday! For most of us it has been since August since we have had a weekday without seeing each other. I will take a few days off and then I will start my other swim team. It's much more laid back, so I don't have to deal with so much stress. Most importantly I just need to relax!
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