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Swimming
To start out here’s a definition of swimming in my words. You could even call it a quote if you want to. “From the inside you can’t explain it, and from the outside you can’t understand it.” It’s a sport that you can’t just up and decide that one day you want to become a swimmer. You have to either grow up swimming, or it’s in your blood and soul.
There are multiple levels of swimming, starting out from the lowest/slowest level, Districts. It’s basically a meet that anybody can swim unless you’re too fast. The next level up is Junior Olympics where if you have these qualifying times then you can’t swim at districts. This is the level that average speed swimmers are at. After Junior Olympics comes states, the level that I’m at. This level is where fast swimmers are at and were most kids goals are. After states you get into the unreal territory which is Zones, Sectionals, and then Junior Nationals. My sister is a Sectional swimmer and my best friend Caroline is a Junior National swimmer. They are insane!
This weekend is the SMAC Last Chance meet, which is literally my last chance. If I don’t get the rest of my cuts this weekend then I’m going to have some problems. My parents have decided this year that if I don’t have four or more State Cuts then they won’t take me to states. I guess I can understand that mainly because they’re all the way in Grand Rapids which is two hours away. This weekend my goals are to get my cut in the 200 I.M., the 200 Back, and to go my time in the 100 Back. I haven’t gone my time in the 100 Back since November, at High School Conferences.
My coach Greg seems to think that I’m scared to swim and go all out because of my back, but that’s not it. I really don’t know what it is, but I’m going to find out this weekend I guess. Maybe it’s my heart rate. I now know that if my heart rate isn’t high up before I swim then I probably won’t go that fast. Also my turns have been off, so I’ve spent the last week trying to perfect them, as well as my starts. The only thing I can do know is to visualize my races and focus. It’s not like I’ll be completely upset if I don’t go my time or get my cuts, but it would be really nice if I could.
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Just Relax
The wind was strong and the rain was cold; it was early spring. I was out on the beach with my friend, Christine. It’s funny how in Michigan the weather can change just like that. We had been kicking the soccer ball around when it started; the rain that is. For a second we just stood there bearing the wind and rain, then we started to run to my house. With our luck, the back door was locked so we ran quickly to the front door hoping it would be open, it was.
When we walked inside something didn’t feel quite right. It was my sister, the machine in her room that helps her breathe wasn’t running, and so we panicked. I sprinted up the stairs and down the long, dark, hallway to her room, where her door was wide open. When I looked inside everything seemed to be fine, she was in her bed sleeping and the music was softly playing from her ipod, but the machine wasn’t on. My sister has needed the machine to help her breathe ever since she got cancer, two years ago. I walked over to my sister and told Christine to turn the machine back on while I checked to make sure she was okay. The machine wouldn’t turn on and neither would the lights, so we figured the wind had knocked out the power
The opening of the garage door woke her up like it always did. My sister looked forward to my mom coming home from work everyday, even though most of the time she didn’t talked to her. I think she just liked knowing that my mom was there and she was safe. My dad wasn’t too good at comforting her when she didn’t feel good, or she was having a bad day, he was a lawyer and so he worked late most of the time so she didn’t see him much.
Christine and I went to the kitchen to let my mom know what had happened. At first my mom freaked out and got mad at us like it was our fault that the power had been knocked out from the wind; then she calmed down and went to make sure that Steph was okay, which she was.
After the whole freakish ordeal Christine decided to try and walk home – she failed miserably. No less then five minutes later, she came back in, soaking wet. It was actually kind of funny. When we sat down on the couch we realized some things. One, this had been the worst Saturday ever, Two, my sister was getting better and three, my dad should really think about getting a generator.