Bryan Brosious: Inland Northwest Swim Championships

*The theme song for this meet was Cage The Elephant's "Back Against The Wall." We do our best work with our backs against the wall.

With this being the final swim meet of the spring season, I wanted to make the most of my time with my swim friends. I am very lucky to have two sets of athletic friends, my triathlon friends, and my swimming friends. People who aren't in the swimming or triathlon communities may find it hard to understand how close of a group we actually are. I would challenge anyone to find a group that can bring together people of all abilities, ages, and motivations. If you can find such a group, I strongly suggest you join it tomorrow. I will tell you that it was the group of people I spent the past weekend with that was the true “success” of this adventure.

*Such an incredible picture of the drive

*Small town America

At times it’s hard to say goodbye to those people because for the most part the tri and swim seasons are polar, the late spring and summer is spent with my tri friends, and the winter and early spring is spent with my swim friends. I don’t see much of those respective friends when we are out of season. It’s hard to say bye to those folks when the opposite season comes around. As much as I’m comforted by the anticipation of seeing the triathlon friends, it’s still somewhat sad. The same is true when tri season ends.

I was always told to respect my elders so I will start with Bill and Christel. I had a good time with these two. Their stories of living in Alaska were very fun to hear. Christel wrote a book about living in Alaska, she gave me an autographed copy, which was very thoughtful. I also found it quite comical the way Christel would watch over Bill while he swam. At one point Bill stopped early and it was to the endearing displeasure of Christel as she waved for him to "get going."

*Bill jokingly told me to "Respect your elders and stop swimming so fast." ha ha

*If you stop early Christel will let you know. :)

*Nothing I say can make this picture better.

At the swim meet I met Frank, he swims for Moscow, but he was not competing because he was getting radiation treatments. His spirits were not dampened. He is a self proclaimed "Cookie Monster" and it's fitting because his cargo pockets were stuffed with them. He smuggled them onto the pool deck and was handing them out. It was like a prison yard exchange as I walked to my events Frank would try and pass me a Little Debbie as he calmly overlooked his timing supervisor task. It was hilarious. I am not eating treats this month, but I took the cookie and humored him. He gave me so many I had to return them to the snack table out front.

*I stopped for a second on my way to the 200im for a picture...and a cookie.

*Going to the 100im? Take this cookie and walk away.

*Passing a Little Debbie on the way to the 500 free. So funny.

*Speaking of carbs, there were plenty at the meet.

*They even had this!

*After a liquid diet all day, this PB was amazing. I went right from the cool down pool to get it, so delicious.

The Chinooks were well represented, they did such an amazing job of coordinating the meet. We all owe them a big thank you. Paige Buehler is the outgoing Chair of the USMS club and she was voted the "Most Dedicated" for all her service efforts in and out of the pool. Her and her team are a great group of people.

*A big thank you to Paige for all her hard work. She's a great lady.

*Coach Matt of the Chinooks always encourages everyone at the meet. It was nice to race with him and his wife, Emilee.

Ayla was nice enough to give me a ride to the swim meet. She did great in her races, and it was great to have more race memories with her. We always have fun, she is getting the hang of what it's like to be part of the swim crew. I should also thank her for her dedicated photography.

*Good job, girl!

*She probably won't appreciate this, I call this picture "La la land."

It was an absolute pleasure to spend time getting to know Eric Ridgeway. He is a very jovial and encouraging person. We had so many laughs. We also had a pretty insightful conversation about vegetarianism (yes, that is a word). I enjoyed my time racing and joking with him.

*Pretty big smiles

*Eric and Mike Hamm after the 200 breaststroke.

The Lake City Masters crew was well represented and it was nice to have them all there. I enjoyed talking and swimming with them, they are very nice people. They also won the team competition by a landslide.

*Me, Joel Kopff, and Mike in the warmup pool.

*Mike is the faster swimmer in the breaststroke, it's amazing to watch.

*His starts are just as entertaining

*Two of my LCM friends who are all smiles. A big thank you to Margaret for her work as USMS secretary.

My two friends from Wenatchee had great showings. These two are two tough dudes. Take my word for it. They are always at the meets and they always swim the hard events.

*If they had a tough as nails award, Jack would win. He swam the 200 fly and 400im at the meet. Incredible.

*James working the 200 breast...kinda lookin' like a swim pirate. Rrrrr

*James is the best swimmer in our territory...and he won't let you forget it. :) The first time I met him he swam the 1000 freestyle....all butterfly.

I had the chance to eat dinner with my friends and make many new ones. It was great to relax with everyone and discuss the status of the Masters Program, which is doing great. At the banquet they handed out various awards. I won two awards, I believe about 10 people, myself included, won the “Water Logger Award” which was given to all the athletes who competed in every swim meet in the 2012-2013 swim season.

*Mostly board members, officers, and those who chose to stay overnight in Moscow.

In this day and age we all see a ton of selfish, self-promotion, get-famous-at-all-costs attitudes. I believe humility is a good thing, I also think that when you’ve done something you’re proud of, something worth while, you should share that with people who care about you.

I had the honor of being voted the “Most Inspirational Athlete” of the season. I am so humbled by the award. They recognized me at the banquet in front of everyone and gave me a really nice, custom embroidered swim bag. At the banquet they read my nomination letter, I was very proud of what was written, but I also got really self-conscious at the same time. I feel very lucky that I was nominated and that the board and my peers voted for me because we have some amazing people in our group. I went back and forth on whether to include this in the post, but I settled for the fact that this is a special moment to me, and I’m proud of what others see in me. I pasted a portion of the nomination letter that was read at the banquet because I am thankful and humbled by it.

This is my first year competitively swimming and hearing about the Masters Swimming Community and it is all thanks to Bryan. He was so enthusiastic about the swim meets and talked everyone up who participates. Bryan said that the meets are like family reunions, you get to know everyone, you all had a common interest, and everyone cheered and supported everyone. I found this analogy to be very true. My first swim meet I could not believe how many people Bryan went up and talked to, cheered for, and how many of our fellow swimmers he found inspiration in. He also writes positively about the accomplishments of our fellow swimmers in his blog. Bryan introduced me not only to competitive swimming but what is means to join a group of people and have just as much fun meeting and cheering people on. He is a great inspiration to me and I am so very grateful that he got me interested.

*I received this sweet hat, and a custom embroidered travel bag.

*How did I spend Saturday night? Like this, icing my running legs.

The 400 individual medley was my best event of the meet. I swam it nearly side by side with Brian Johnson of the Moscow Chinooks. For over 5 minutes we battled.

*Grip it and rip it

*Butterfly in a dead heat

The fly portion was a dead heat, my newly improved backstroke brought me to the lead at the 200 mark. I lost the lead during my still improving breaststroke. At the 300 mark, the start of the freestyle, I was a body length behind. We had swam really hard and I knew it was going to be a big test to come back. At the first of three walls of the freestyle I kept telling myself, “Have a good turn here, get deep, and go to the legs.” I eased up next to the lane line to try and catch the draft. Wall two was a good turn for me and I was within a half body length, but I was suffering.

*Streamlining underwater on the backstroke

*Breastroke, Brian closing the gap.

“Come on, Bryan, you’re a finisher.” I had a great final wall and stayed under as long as my lungs would allow. I stayed under a couple strokes longer than Brian did and surfaced even-steven. I dropped it a gear and eased ahead. Keeping my head down the last few strokes we hit the wall nearly even. The clock would decide, we both glanced up to the scoreboard to decipher the numbers. My time was 23 seconds faster than my time from this meet last year, a huge drop in time, and enough to get me the win by less than half a second. We call that “out touching” the other person. That was a really fun race, one of my best swims ever. Brian and I had a good laugh about how hard we swam and how much we loved it.

*Bang, fist pump :)

My other five events; 200im, 100im, 200 butterfly, 200 backstroke, and 500 freestyle were all swum in personal best times that left me feeling incredibly satisfied. I trained super hard, had a strict diet and recovery program, and keep a good attitude. It all paid off at this meet with huge drops in time off my personal bests. I am beyond happy, there’s no need to say anymore about it.

*This is so true, and I made the most of it.

I feel so lucky because every aspect of this whole adventure was a success. The drive down to the drive home, and every minute in between was awesome. I had so much fun, and if this is any indication of how much fun I will have in tri season I only have one word, “wow.” I will remember this adventure everyday until the 2014 meet.