This weekend was our Pacific Masters Championships. It was a close battle between WCM and USF and I don't know who won at this very moment. I don't care.
You see, I left right before the 1000 today (the last event) right after the last relays. I watched some great swims today. Amazing swims. My friend Brendon swam a 2:03 200 fly and really hit his taper (as he's not going to Nationals)- we were teasing about how he does really well the week after a tapered meet. He seemed to finally figure it out this time.
My friend Stephen called me tonight and told me that Brendon also had a great 1000, was warming down, had a heart attack and died. He was 35. I was stunned. I've been crying since then trying to make sense of it all. It doesn't make sense.
I called some other friends and no one else can believe it either. Suddenly, the meet doesn't matter, swimming doesn't matter, what matters is that we lost a really great guy today. He was always so happy, funny, and loved to tell jokes. He was really good natured and fun to be around. I will miss him terribly.
Actually my first thought when reading your first thread, Karen, was WOW a 2:03! That guy is fast. Then when I read on I couldn't believe it since anyone that can bust out a 2:03 200 fly is obviously in great shape.
I'm glad that you are a supportive team. At least your last memories of him are happy ones.
Great job getting back in the pool that must have been really tough. I'm sure Brendon was there with you in spirit.
I just came from the pool. My teammates are doing better for the most part.
I had to hurry back to work, but I did get to chat with Brian Stack for a few minutes. He said some of the neatest things, including:
"Losing him is like losing one of our family. You figure there are only 40,000 of us. It'd be like putting all of USMS into a baseball park. But the cool thing is you could look anywhere in the stadium and know somebody!" He's so right.
We also chatted about how our Pacific Champs is just like a family reunion. It seems everybody knows everybody. I think there's as much talking in the warm up pool as there is swimming :p
Anyway, Brian reminds me that we (USMS swimmers) are a really unique bunch: kind, compassionate, fun, interesting, and don't forget, competitive. :) I'm very lucky to be a part of it.
Originally posted by Karen Duggan
IAnyway, Brian reminds me that we (USMS swimmers) are a really unique bunch: kind, compassionate, fun, interesting, and don't forget, competitive. :) I'm very lucky to be a part of it.
I find those same stellar qualities in my drinking buddies!
Originally posted by michaelmoore
From Kerry O'Brien - Coach of Walnut Creek Masters
Simple existence can occur through inhaling and exhaling. _Actual "living" happens by constantly breathing new life into those things we are passionate about. _A key to "living happily" is not only finding balance between the things that are important and those that bring us joy, but by also knowing how to find one within the the other.
Wow!! These are words to live by. Thanks for sharing that with us. I keep reading this quote over and over. Walnut Creek is very blessed to have such a caring coach.
Beth,
We are TRULY blessed.
Kerry is the team. And I believe he lives by those words.
When I first started swimming in 1994 with WCM I wrote a letter to Kerry saying he must be part angel (not whole angel 'cause I've seen a little devil in him!) because he has such an amazingly positive attitude toward EVERYONE on the team. He can be whatever anyone needs- from the novice swimmer to the Olympian. In fact, he's a big part of the reason my husband and I haven't moved back East. Swimming is an important part of our lives and swimming wouldn't be swimming without Kerry- so here we stay :)
'Geek,
My swimming buddies ARE my drinking buddies :)
There has been a lot of talk about the heart and its possible conditions lately. Today I heard, from a coworker, that he had horrible depression from a beta blocker and was referred to a psych hospital. The psych hospital felt helpless, nothing they were doing was working. They even gave him meds to counteract the beta blockers! Eventually, the doctor took him off the beta blocker and he was fine!
I'm being reminded that knowledge and information are the keys to successful treatment of any condition, especially conditions that are life threatening.
Originally posted by swimr4life
OK! I'm a little scared now! How can you tell the difference between the benign palpitations and the lethal arrhythmias? I've been having an irregular heartbeat for over a year now. I've told my Dr. and he said not to worry. When I have it , my heart almost stops for a few seconds, then feels like its doing flipturns, then races for a few seconds and settles into a normal beat. Is this ok?
Sorry...I don't mean to hijack the thread but this got my attention!!:confused:
I have one form of this. I have PVC (Premature Ventricular Contraction.) There is a corollary condition, PAC (Premature Atrial Contraction.) As best as I can understand it, basically what happens is that either the ventricle or the atrium contract out of turn from time to time. What I feel at this time is the normal thub-dub, thub-dub getting interrupted with what I can only describe as a thub-dub-dub. And then my heart sort of skips a beat to get back into rhythm. When it kicks back in, that first beat seems almost twice as hard as normal. It happens with varying frequency, from as much as once every few minutes to whole hours between occurrences. I don't always feel it each time it happens. And I rarely notice when it's NOT happening. (I can't say that I've ever felt it while swimming.)
They told me they have no concrete causes, but they believe it could be attached to stress, excessive caffiene, lack of sleep, certain meds (none of which I take.)
I notice it most when I am lacking sleep. And I notice it most when I am very relaxed and quieted down, such as watching TV or reading a book. (But that might be because the quiet allows me to notice it more readily.) I fully admit that I drink my share of coffee.
They told me this is not something to worry about, unless it progresses to a regular and frequent occurrence (like, once per minute constantly.) But I still can't help pondering what it would be like to feel it occur, and then realize that my heart didn't start back up ... Reading about incidents like the one that precipitated this thread serve to intensify that pondering.
