I'm sure each of us has one race (or maybe more) that has some special :groovy: :applaud: :wave: :banana: :laugh2:
meaning to us and it could be for any one of many reasons. (I'm not talking about embarrassing moments; this has been addressed elsewhere.)
I'm talking about swims/races, some moments of which live with incredible clarity and details in our memories and minds (in colour -or B&W, with sounds and possibly smells -chlorine, of course.)
I won't tell about mine (I have three about which I'm very proud) for a while. Not until regulars have told their stories and some would-be-posters (a.k.a. lurkers) have also shared.
Parents
Former Member
Gosh, I had several... indulge me...
One was swimming the 200m Free at the FINA World Masters Champs in Indianapolis. The place was packed and my coach was sitting in the upstairs bleachers, not allowed on deck. Even with all the noise I could hear my coach yelling at me during the race, and I had a best time.
Another was the 1500m Free at Nationals up in Minneapolis. Normally I don't go to Natls but my younger sister lived there and I hadn't seen her for a while, good excuse for a trip. She hadn't seen me swim and got to be my lap counter. It was very novel to her, including the part where I had the only head-on collision of the meet as the 2nd person in my lane circle-swam and collided with me on the first 100. Boy, was I mad -- completely stopped and still 1400m to go. I ended up with a best time and took 5th. My sister died 6 months later so that meet was the last time I got to see her.
Finally in one of my early meets I swam the 400m free at Zones. I had a great cat-and-mouse race going on with the woman in the next lane. Finally, on the last 50m she blasted off the wall (I could imagine her saying, "Well, this was fun, but ... SEE YA") and left me in her wake. Afterwards somebody told me that she was a nun and 30 years older than me. Ouch. But she had been an Olympian in her youth.
Gosh, I had several... indulge me...
One was swimming the 200m Free at the FINA World Masters Champs in Indianapolis. The place was packed and my coach was sitting in the upstairs bleachers, not allowed on deck. Even with all the noise I could hear my coach yelling at me during the race, and I had a best time.
Another was the 1500m Free at Nationals up in Minneapolis. Normally I don't go to Natls but my younger sister lived there and I hadn't seen her for a while, good excuse for a trip. She hadn't seen me swim and got to be my lap counter. It was very novel to her, including the part where I had the only head-on collision of the meet as the 2nd person in my lane circle-swam and collided with me on the first 100. Boy, was I mad -- completely stopped and still 1400m to go. I ended up with a best time and took 5th. My sister died 6 months later so that meet was the last time I got to see her.
Finally in one of my early meets I swam the 400m free at Zones. I had a great cat-and-mouse race going on with the woman in the next lane. Finally, on the last 50m she blasted off the wall (I could imagine her saying, "Well, this was fun, but ... SEE YA") and left me in her wake. Afterwards somebody told me that she was a nun and 30 years older than me. Ouch. But she had been an Olympian in her youth.
