Montana, despite being huge in terms of landmass, is rather small in terms of population. In fact, our fine state is just eclipsing the 1 million residents mark, and for the record that’s enough, we are full, thank you very much. Even though small, the racing community in Montana is fierce and well known. Whether the state championship is for swimming, bike riding, or bingo, the heavy hitters are always there trying to win.
*Brodacious, Evan the Excellent, and Aubrey
The Montana State Swim Championships was no exception; the two-day meet was the largest swim meet in Montana history. The great thing about such a huge swim meet is I get to see all of my extended fitness family and friends. A very big thank you to my parents for all of their pictures, cheers, and support, they are the best.
I was extremely lucky because I had so many great people to share the meet with. My parents, Jess, Ed and Patti, Aubrey, about 30 Montana friends, and my brother-from-another-mother, Evan, were all a huge part of the successful meet. It would be a great injustice to try and put into words the amazing moments of friendship and family that we all shared. Words will never do it justice, those who shared those moments would agree. Some things in life are beyond words.
One of the highlights (one of many) was when Evan stayed with me for the weekend. We always have a great time together. We spent our time swimming (obviously), relaxing, joking, and watching the show “Ridiculousness” on MTV and thoroughly enjoying the sight of people taking a crash and burn on camera. When two funny-guys with similar interests get together it makes for one hilarious time because our jokes and laughter feed off the others. I think Evan had a great time, I know I thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent together at the meet and relaxing.
*Ed and Patti
For the championships, I planned to swim 8 events; 400, 200, 100 individual medley, 200 free, 200, 100 butterfly, 100, 50 backstroke. That would be three events on Saturday and five events on Sunday. To say the least, I found the schedule to be a challenge. It seemed like I spent hours in the warmup/cool down pool to continually be ready for the next event. It was taxing on my body. The logistics alone of getting to the proper race, heat, and time took considerable effort.
*Lots of schedule checking.
*More schedule checking.
*Let me check the schedule, again.
*Let me get my own copy of the schedule.
*Now Aubrey wants to check the schedule.
*Evan still checking the schedule, I'm tired of the schedule.
With all things considered, I had my focus on two races, the two hardest of my schedule, the 400 individual medley and the 200 butterfly. I have never swum the 200 fly in competition and it weighed heavy on my mind. I won’t lie; I was nervous, and lost more than a few minutes of sleep thinking about it. It is such a hard race that if you make any mistake and over exert yourself, finishing becomes questionable.
*The warm up sessions get crazy
*Swimming makes us crazy!
*Evan in the 1650 freestyle, he swam fast!
*Aubrey stretching out.
*Snacks and smirks, no schedule.
*Jess was great with cheers and pics
*Start of the 50 back
Coach Kyle asked me how I picked my schedule. I told her that I thought of a schedule of the hardest events, if the schedule made me think, “that would suck,” then that’s the schedule I wanted. That is exactly what I did.
*The key to a fast fly is arm circle warmups
*Let's do it
*Reach!
Saturday morning I gutted out the 400im in a personal best, check. Also on Saturday I swam the 200 freestyle, a great mid distance race that combines speed and pain. I wound up swimming a fantastic 200 free and beat one of my friends [whom I have never beaten before]. She paid me one of the nicest swimming compliments I have ever received when she said, “Your swim is getting fast, and you look like a swimmer now.” Coming from her, a person who has been swimming for decades, it is a flattering compliment. I appreciated it very much.
*Uriah joined the party
*We cleaned our plates, delicious
Sunday was all about “the one race,” the race I thought about for months, the 200 butterfly. The 200 fly was the fourth race of five on Sunday so I had to save a little bit for it. Coach Kyle joked with me about sandbagging in the 100 backstroke.
*Coach Kyle [not my coach] telling me I dogged it in the 100 back
* Paparazzi
*Nervous for the 200 fly
*Killin' it
Anyway, the 200 fly came and I was psyched for it. The race was hard, 8 lengths of butterfly is tough, period. I stayed tough the first half and mustered enough strength to close it home. It was one of the best swimming moments of my life because I had friends and family on each end of the pool screaming and cheering for me. Evan, Aubrey, and Jess were right there yelling at me to keep going and stay tough. It really was a magical moment to be doing what I was doing. Patti was the first one to congratulate me as I drug my carcass out of the pool.
*Patti telling me she "knew I could do it."
*All smiles in the cool down pool, I did it!
When I told people I was swimming the 200 fly I commonly heard, “Why are you doing that event, that’s crazy?” The answer is, I’m doing it to feel like this, simply amazing. Everyone was so happy and proud of me. It really was one of those special life moments. It was awesome!
*Jess after her 200 free
*Who do you think you're looking at?
Evan, Aubrey, Jess, Kyle, and Patti all did amazing in their events. They all collected their fair share of awards and accolades. I was able to swim well and collect six age division wins and two age division runner up performances. That was well above what I would have been happy with. I would have been happy with just being there and being a part of such a memorable weekend. Thanks to everyone who supports me and shared those moments. We’re champions baby!
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