Swim Meet

I had a blast.

Penny had a good time.

We plan to go back next year.

My wife told me she was proud of me. My heart almost exploded.

My first ever swim meet, the 2019 Mississippi Senior Olympics, is now a matter of history, memories, and a sweet sense of satisfaction.

We arrived at the Biloxi Natatorium a little after 8:00 am. Saturday morning. Swimmer check in was at 8:30 with the meet scheduled to start at 9:00 o'clock. At 8:30 they said we could begin to warm up. I jumped in. The water was a lot cooler than the 88 I have been training in. But it was much warmer than the 78 of most competition pools. I meant to ask what the temperature was but forgot. My guess is the water temperature was 84. It felt good but not too bracing. Seeing how this was a geezer meet, I am not surprised the water was not too cold.

My wife took a picture of this old,
 bald man warming up.

Once the meet started, it went quickly. My first swim was the 200 Free. I was fearful of this guy from Louisiana. He was 51 and was also registered in the 500 Free and the 50 Butterfly. Butterfly swimmers are usually fast. But I won the race easily in 2:44:09. I was a little surprised at the time because the fastest I was ever able to swim in practice was 2:56. I expected to do better in the race, but I did not know how much difference the better would be. 

I learned one thing right away. When the referee, or whoever he was, said "Swimmers step forward," what he really meant was "Your a$$ better be ready because the horn is sounding in about a second and a half." I almost got left a couple of times.

I literally forgot to do a cool down swim, and I did not rewarm for my next event which was the 50 Free. Nobody was rewarming so I did not think of it. Before I knew it, I was up again in one of the events that I thought about scratching. I thought I did not belong in the 50 and 100 Free because I am not a sprinter, and I figured I would get my butt handed to me. The horn sounded and by the time we flipped, I was a little ahead. I pushed hard and won. That's when I knew it was going to be a really good day in the water.

When the 100 came up, I recognized that I had a chance to win all my events. I beat the guys I would be racing in the 500 when I won the 200. I unexpectedly won the 50. If I could win the 100, I would go home with four gold medals. For the first time in three races, I was ahead when I took my first breath to the left. I always swam lane three, which meant I was always seeded to finish last. I won in 1:15:33. I had not swum faster than 1:26 in practice. Wow! I was pumped.

The Men's 500 Free was the last event contested that day. This was the one I came to swim and expected to win. I did do a little warm up swimming for it, maybe 200. I did not do a dive start for this one because I didn't want to take the chance of losing my goggles. When the horn sounded, I went straight into the lead and never looked back. I swam as hard as I could and lapped the other contestants not once but twice. I had done it, and it felt really good. I had hoped for two golds and two bronzes. However, I won them all, four golds. Below are the times I swam.

200 Free - 2:44:09 - Gold Medal

50 Free - 34:52 - Gold Medal

100 Free - 1:15:33 - Gold Medal

500 Free - 7:08:89 - Gold Medal

Now I am dreaming of the Nationals in a couple of years. You have to qualify for those on even years at state games. So next year, if we go back to Biloxi, I can qualify for the 2021 games. I have some reservations. It is a big step up in competition at the Nationals. I will need to improve a lot. The 50 and 100 are out. I figure I have no chance in them. I will attempt only the 200 and 500, or maybe even just the 500. The five is the only one I am thinking now that I could conceivably win, IF I make the improvements. I will write about those in another blog post.

Thank you, Jesus, for a good swim meet, and a good trip for Penny and me.