Coeur D' Alene Swim Meet

A big thank you to my parents!  My dad took excellent pictures for this race report, and my mother who is always my biggest supporter.  No matter what, she thinks I'm the coolest guy in school. :)

I am a person who believes that you must find satisfaction in the simple, small things in life.  I certainly have had my fair share of adrenaline, epic, dream-come-true moments, but I still find the pleasure in small things.  For example, riding my bike in the sun while wearing my bike kits satisfies me.  Waking up early to go running, swimming, or lift weights in my basement, satisfies me.  Seeing chive cottage cheese on sale at the grocery store is a small adventure for me. :)

It seems that with the more small moments in which I appreciate, I can more easily recognize and make the most of those larger moments that involve all the special people in my life.  The Coeur D’ Alene swim meet was one of those moments.  The day was awesome, I had an entire entourage, or maybe they had me in their entourage (you say tomato, I say potato).  My parents were there, Jess, Cassie, and their coach Kyle, Heather, The Johnson Family, and Ed and Patti.  I also had a bunch of swim friends at the meet.  I had a good time with all of them.

*Jess and her entourage

*My swim friend Patti

*I went with an all-liquid diet for the swim meet and felt great, my sponsors are so good to me.

*Uriah had his energy gel before we went to the meet

*Scott tried a different nutritional approach

*Chug, chug, chug, chug....

*Mmmmm good

Scott had a great meet on limited training and made a successful return to competitive swimming.  It was fun to race him.  He kicked some butt in the 200 free.  Jess, Cassie, and Kyle also swam well in their events.  Jess rocked the 100IM.  Patti, from Montana Masters, had a great meet and inspired us all.  Diana put me to shame in the 50 back by shattering the master’s record, thanks for making me look bad :)  My new swim friend Sammy put in a great race in the 400 IM and 200 fly, both brutal races.  I am really glad Sammy swam the 400IM because not many people chose to. Not swimming, but still appreciated greatly, were my parents, sister, Ed, and my friend Heather who cheered us all on.  We were lucky to share the day together.

*Scott's mixed 200 free final

Okay, so my races.  I started off with the 400 IM, an absolute killer of a race.  I am not sure if I paced it poorly or what, but I really felt after it that I did not swim to my true potential.  I did, however, take 16 seconds off my time from swim championships back in November.  I can’t complain about a 16 second drop, the theme of the 400IM was pain.

I swam well (relatively speaking) in the 200IM and the 100IM.  Despite being locked up big time after the 400IM, I was able to swim-out the fatigue with a lot of cool down and warm up swimming.  I felt strong and set personal bests in both of those events as well as the 400IM.

*Post 100 IM showdown

*Uriah ready to swim

*Jess ready to launch in her 100 IM final

*Chatting with Sister Madonna

*400 IM warm up

*Finishing strong

*Dude! What's my time? 

The 50 back was over before I knew it.  I spent probably 10 minutes warming up for it, and 10 minutes cooling down after.  The interesting thing is the event took less than 40 seconds.  I didn’t swim a personal best in the 50 back but no one noticed.  Diana stole the show when she broke the master’s record with an absurd time of 28 something. 

My last event, one that didn’t work out so well, was the 100 fly.  The main deterrent to a good performance was the fact that I nearly missed the start. Lol.  From the warm up pool, I saw a heat step up to the blocks with lane five empty.  “Ahh crap, that’s me,” I thought to myself. I hopped out of the warm up pool and I had to run to the swim blocks (very poor policy to run on the pool deck) and barely made it.  I didn’t swim well, but still had fun.

*Stretching out for the 100 butterfly

*Dipping into the warm up pool

*Face of fatigue

*My 100 IM mixed final

*50 backstroke start

After the event, we collected all of our winnings, and went out to celebrate.  It really was an epic day to have my family and friends cheering for me and enjoying the adventure.  I hope for many more swim adventures like this.  Thanks for reading.

*One tired man