celebration!
I know there is something unseemly about bragging about ones swimming times. I think for many masters swimmers, a sense of personal accomplishment is best savored inwardly. John Wayne, were he to have taken up masters swimming, certainly would never have jumped up and down in giddy pride over a personal record. Nor, I suspect, would Clint Eastwood.
Having said this, I would just like to take a moment to jump up and down in shameless giddly pride over a recent swim I had!!!
At Y nationals in Ft. Lauderdale a couple weeks ago, at the age of 49, I swam the best 200 yard freestyle of my life--a 1:55.11, which beat my high school and college time by nearly a full second. I realize this may actually say a lot more about my former mediocrity that it does about my current prowesss, but the fact remains that as I near semi-centenarian status, I was able to whoop my teenage self!!! (Sorry about that, youngster Jim; you just didn't know how to race smart back then.)
I went into the race hoping just to break two minutes; I had never before broken 1:56, and this didn't even enter my consciousness as a possibility. When I finished the race--splitting 57 and 58 respectively--I wasn't even all that exhausted. I looked over, saw my time on the big board, and I have been ludicrously, bumptiously proud of myself ever since.
Anyhow, I'm hoping that rather than annoying my fellow masters swimmers who may read this post, this exercise in self-congratulations/aggrandizment will encourage others to pen their own moments of personal satisfaction. Where better to celebrate than here, where your fellow swimmers actually know about swimming times and (unlike the world at large) conceivably even care?
Parents
Former Member
Congratulations, Jim!!
I certainly cannot brag about any single event achievement, as I am still building the strength, flexibility and technique needed to run a *really* good race. (I am 44 and just started swimming a year ago; I train with an age group team in a pool located an hour and a half from where I live.)
However, I just returned from my first LCM meet of the season, having only ever swam two prior to this, and of the seven events I swam, six were repeats. From those six events, I shaved a cumulative 51.59 seconds - 20 of those in the 200 Free!! (Yes, I am proud of that!)
It was my first three day meet, as well, and by the third day the wear and tear of anxiety and nervousness was wearing me down. It was a USS meet, as I do not live where there are many opportunities to attend Masters' meets. This was the first time where I was in the single digit seconds behind the high schoolers.
(As a side note, another moment of pride stems from the fact that my 14 year old daughter shaved 38.12 seconds, cumulative, off of her nine events)!
I love this sport!!
Congratulations, Jim!!
I certainly cannot brag about any single event achievement, as I am still building the strength, flexibility and technique needed to run a *really* good race. (I am 44 and just started swimming a year ago; I train with an age group team in a pool located an hour and a half from where I live.)
However, I just returned from my first LCM meet of the season, having only ever swam two prior to this, and of the seven events I swam, six were repeats. From those six events, I shaved a cumulative 51.59 seconds - 20 of those in the 200 Free!! (Yes, I am proud of that!)
It was my first three day meet, as well, and by the third day the wear and tear of anxiety and nervousness was wearing me down. It was a USS meet, as I do not live where there are many opportunities to attend Masters' meets. This was the first time where I was in the single digit seconds behind the high schoolers.
(As a side note, another moment of pride stems from the fact that my 14 year old daughter shaved 38.12 seconds, cumulative, off of her nine events)!
I love this sport!!
