Your best, most memorable swim/race and why.....

2003 LC Nationals at Rutgers of all places. I had been having a very bad meet and unexpectedly went a 1:03 in the 100 meter free. My previous best had been 1:05. Same thing happened in 2005 at LC Nationals when I dropped from a 33 to a 31 in the 50 meter fly. Again totally unexpected and shocking...

A county champ high school meet. . . Beating this gal on the year round National team (who was favored to win) the event. I went into finals seeded third. People were saying that they wanted to "watch me lose." Being the pig headed person that I am, I was going to do everything in my power to prove 'em wrong! Ended up going a best time in an event that was not my event (the 100 free) and beating her by .02. The stands were full and everyone was screaming and on their feet. That makes me smile. That race was won on pure determination as my training did not equal hers. The time was not that great at :54.96, but it was my personal best. She went :54.98. ******* At a year round zone meet as a 14 yr old, I enjoyed going from last place at the 100 mark in the 200 meter fly, to finishing first in the heat and ending up 3rd overall. Nothing like negative splitting the 200 fly and passing 7 other swimmers! Still trying to recapture that feeling/ ability as a masters. I'm a long ways away. :)

Late 80's, the Masters Canadian Nats (scm) being held where I lived (Vancouver) & I broke my toe (spiral fracture, toe pointing to ceiling) 7 days before. Taping helped with warmup (turns hurt big-time), but tape would come off by the end of race. Did pretty well, but not happy (what if I hadn't...) so when it came to 50m *** I resolved to just forget the pain. Personal best by .3 and new Cdn record 32.67. Toe was interesting...

(Masters swim): Probably at Michigan State Champs a couple years ago... I was 6 weeks pregnant and just starting to get morning sickness - and I took 5 seconds off of my 100 back. I was in an outside lane - and I could remember, how the heck am I beating the girl next to me? All of my other swims were AWFUL, so it was just a little confusing. I felt strong and I hit all my turns... when I looked up at the scoreboard - my mouth dropped, I looked up at my husband in the stands and I gave him a big wave - hee!

Swimming 2530 yds. of 400IM in the 2007 Postal is my all time best race ever. When you are having a good day, everything comes together and you can accomplish miracles. In addition, being inspired by my coaches Paul Huntinger and Dren Geer was a powerfull motivator for that race. Indeed, psychology many times determines the difference between an outstanding versus a good performance. Swim the IM in the Postal; it's great fun!:wave:

In highshool I was racing my intown arch rival in the 200IM during the leage championships. It was neck and neck and I ultimately pulled it out on the last lenght of free. I just realized I love swimming IM's. I can't wait to be in shape enough to swim one in a masters race. Got Boost

Here's my promised story (in case anyone does not remember): I was 20, swimming on the Guezira Club team in Cairo, Egypt. We were the champs (Men's and Ladies' Opens). The Nationals came up and our main competitor, the Heliolido club threw a gauntlet down that we had to pick up (and the federation went along). A 10 x 100m (LCM) Free Relay. I was -at the time- maybe the sixth or seventh fastest sprinter on our team, but ........................... I did not practice regularly. Therefore our coach decided that we would start with our best starter, then from 2nd swimmer up to anchor, go with me as number 2 then with good, better, best and superduper. He did explain to me that he wasn't sure I could do my best time of 1:04.2 and that's why he was giving the team eight opportunities to make up for my poor performance ("if it came to that", he had the kindness to say). Our lead swimmer finishes second to Heliolido's by about 5 meters. Here I am on the block, waiting for him, and watching Heliolido's number 2 swimming away. I concentrate on not false-starting and getting DQ'ed. Back then, goggles were a thing that we only saw used by Scuba Divers and had only heard that swimmers used. One advantage of swimming without goggles is that you get better peripheral (if somewhat blurred) vision. Somehow, once I hit the water, I completely forgot that I was supposed to -more or less- give only 98% going out so as to have something left in the tank for the 2nd 50 and I went all out. I can remember that first 50m of mine so clearly. I breathe on my left and Heliolido was to our right but out of my right eye I could see -far away and ahead- the other guy's kicking feet and the whitewater he was producing and I was gaining ground. I caught up with him at the turn and even now, as I type, I can see him, to my left, falling behind. I touched about 5m ahead of him. The wonderful part about this story is that we kept that lead up to the last touch (plus or minus a few centimetres). Needless to say all my nine team-mates made me feel like a king that day (and that evening at the party). My non-official (relay) time was better than my official PB by ..... Oh! ..... around four seconds. The coach said, "1 Minute Zero" (in French, BTW). I can still see the colour of the pool water that day, still smell the weak chlorine (they had weakened it for the Championship), still remember the water rushing by my eyes as I breathed, the turn, the touch as I looked back at their number 2 as our number 3 was flying over me. Was it George B. Shaw who said, "Youth is a wonderful thing. Pity it's wasted on the young."? If I knew then what I think I know now, I now know I would have practiced then. There's a tune that's been popping in my head since, two, three paragraphs ago. "Thanks for the memories". This Forum has given me the opportunity to relive that race, occasion, day (and let's not forget the celebratory party). Thanks

Mine (for the masters era) was at the 2000 SC Nationals in Indianapolis. I was swimming the 100 free (my favorite event) and it was just one of those races when everything came together. The first 50 seemed effortless and I remember telling my self to kick it home. I felt like I swam right thru the wall at the finish and after regaining my senses felt like I had indeed left every ounce of energy in the pool. It was and still is my masters PB. I've had a few of these over the years....but none since I was in high school or college. I've had two experiences where I felt like I swam a perfect 200 freestyle before....both times they were legs of an 800 free relay. When I was 17 or 18 I swam the lead off 200 at Junior Nationals on our 800 free relay (that ended up winning BTW!!) and I went 1:42.6 (this was in 1982 or 1983 I think). The other 200 leg of an 800 free relay was when I anchored our 800 free relay at the conference championships my senior year in college and I went 1:39 something (with a relay start of course).....Both times I felt like I was barely exerting any energy at all on the first 100 yet I still seemed to have a very long smooth stroke with a low SPL....then I simply opened up the carburator a bit on the second 100 (and intensified my kick a bit) and came close to even splitting both races....Thats one of the reasons why I said the 200 free was one of my favorite events on some other thread here recently....b/c I have fond memories of swimming that race correctly (or at least it felt correct that is...LOL!!). I never felt nearly as good while swimming a 100 free for some reason....the 100 is too close to being an all out sprint to feel the sensation I felt during those 200 free races I guess? I have a few others....but one left a sour feeling for me b/c even though I felt good on both my 100 fly and 200 fly at conference my senior year in college, I missed my goal times...the 100 fly was hard to swallow b/c breaking the 50 second barrier was such a big deal to me...and then I came up a few tenths short of that goal....Just didn't get out fast enough ....My stroke was more adapted to the 200 fly than it was for raw speed I guess....Oh well, I'll just break 50 seconds in the 100 fly as a Master's swimmer and call it even then...right!!...LOL!:rofl: :rofl: Newmastersswimmer

1981 - California 3A Southern Section Finals - I was seeded third coming into the meet - Third after prelims - Night of the finals comes around - Most meets through the year that year a gun was used for the starts - East L.A. City College had a fast pool with electronic timing - I was on the blocks waiting for the gun to go off - When the beeper went off I didn't react - Dead last off the blocks - dead last at the 50 - ended up third! Just one of those you want back but can't have!!!!:frustrated:

Donna started a similiar thread a few months ago so instead of rewriting what I posted there... forums.usms.org/showthread.php Hi Didn't meant to try and steal anyone's thunder (or hijack anyone's thread) and I'm not saying that you're implying I did. Intermission............... Just came back from "there". Read all the posts and am continuing this reply. Music............Curtains come up. Resume post................................. As you can probably see I only joined a few days ago and have not reached very far down the more than 150 threads. Donna's thread intentions is just what I meant by "ahem.........starting......'hm 'hm ......this thread". She called it Power swim, I called it memorable, because (details later) I can remember the color of the pool water that day, the feel of the water's temperature, details of strokes, body position, etc... L8R