This morning I was not planning on going to the pool, but when I looked outside it was raining. I went to the pool and spent the best hour that I have had in a long, long time. I spend the time kicking (I hate kicking with a passion) and just feeling the rain on my face. It was such a serene experience with the water droplets hitting my goggles and the feeling that it was just me, the rain, and the water. The mountains were covered in mist and no one else was in the pool, although there was one rather wet lifeguard that kept glaring at me. When I got out I felt refreshed and renewed and ready to face the rest of my day. Does anyone else have a beautiful experience at the pool?
Parents
Former Member
I have seen some pretty special things happen throughout the years I swam when I was a kid. One I remember most was watching a teammate tie the high school record for the 200 IM set by Mark Spitz, and a week later someone beat that record. I've seen people smack their head on the wall, but kept going and won the race. But the number one memory I will have is actually my most recent, and the most inspirational and beautiful. At my last swim meet I finished warming up early so I could get out of the way of the other swimmers. As I was sitting in the bleachers I saw a man walk in on crutches, turned out he has one leg. I thought to myself wow, that is dedication and passion for swimming. About five minutes later a guy walked in with his wife and daughter holding very long poles. Just so happened that this man was blind! During warm ups he counted his strokes before reaching for the walls. He also swam in a very straight line, rarely hitting the lane lines. During his competitions his wife and daughter stood on the ends and tapped him with a pole to let him know when to turn and stop. It would have been easy to say that he swam good for a blind man, but he was just a good swimmer, if you didn't see his helpers, you would never know that he was blind. Whenever he finished a race everyone would applaud, I made the comment that he probably gets that all the time, but my god does he deserve it!
On a more humorous note, I lost two races to guy who is nearly 25 years older than me!
I have seen some pretty special things happen throughout the years I swam when I was a kid. One I remember most was watching a teammate tie the high school record for the 200 IM set by Mark Spitz, and a week later someone beat that record. I've seen people smack their head on the wall, but kept going and won the race. But the number one memory I will have is actually my most recent, and the most inspirational and beautiful. At my last swim meet I finished warming up early so I could get out of the way of the other swimmers. As I was sitting in the bleachers I saw a man walk in on crutches, turned out he has one leg. I thought to myself wow, that is dedication and passion for swimming. About five minutes later a guy walked in with his wife and daughter holding very long poles. Just so happened that this man was blind! During warm ups he counted his strokes before reaching for the walls. He also swam in a very straight line, rarely hitting the lane lines. During his competitions his wife and daughter stood on the ends and tapped him with a pole to let him know when to turn and stop. It would have been easy to say that he swam good for a blind man, but he was just a good swimmer, if you didn't see his helpers, you would never know that he was blind. Whenever he finished a race everyone would applaud, I made the comment that he probably gets that all the time, but my god does he deserve it!
On a more humorous note, I lost two races to guy who is nearly 25 years older than me!
