I had a big weekend in terms of racing.
It started with the race to clean the house on Thursday. Alina came down from Maine to swim in the NE Masters Championship at Harvard, and before her arrival, the house was pretty grim. The most grim were the bathrooms. They were like close-to-vomit upon entry disgusting. After going through several bottles of Lysol and several sponges, I moved onto the kids' rooms, which basically entailed throwing every clothing item on the floor into the basement laundry and changing sheets-- which aside from Noah's hadn't been changed in... a very long time. (Best not to try to figure out how long I always say...) I admit I may have used a little disinfectant in the kids' rooms, too. I then lit smelly candles all over the house to try to get rid of the super potent dog smell. The effect was quite satisfying. The house appeared to be somewhat tidy and clean. I struggled to keep it clean after the kids arrived home from school and before Alina showed up (kinda like rowing upstream), but I prevailed!
Race #1 = a win for Mary.
The next race(s) began the following morning at Blodgett Pool at Harvard for the NEMSCY Championship. I admit, I haven't been focused on my swimming of late, and I wasn't focused for this meet either. My lack of swimming verve was bad enough so that I actually contemplated not warming up for my events because I simply didn't feel like getting wet. Yep. Not a good sign.
I did warm up in the end. I then went onto swim five events: the 100 free, the 50 fly, 200IM,, the 100 back and the 50 free in a relay. Those of you who once competed in swimming (or still do) will nod, knowing I was swimming super fun events... none of which (save possibly the 200IM) had the potential to kill me.
The 100 free was first. I may or may not have warmed up quite enough to swim decently. I was seeded in the 9th heat of about 18, so as per usual, smack in the middle. The first length felt smooth and easy (as it always does) but by the third length I was feeling that whole body cement-like, hypoxic pain of swim sprinting and I was wondering why the hell I insisted in swimming in these meets. My splits were still pretty even, though, and my time (1:07.7) is only a second or two off what I did when I was a kid, so I will take it. I finished 12th out of 19th in my AG. Humbling... but hey, I was with SWIMMERS at a championship meet! Alina placed first in 57 seconds. The girl is fast.
Next up was the 50 fly. This was my best showing of the meet in terms of placing. It felt smooth and easy until the last few strokes of the 2nd length. Gotta love the 50. I finished in 33.9, about normal for me, and was 10th out of 22 in my AG. Again, I'll take it. Alina was first again, in 28 seconds.
The 200 IM was al slightly disasterous. I am best at fly and back. Breaststroke is my weakest stroke with free following closely behind. Hence I always am winning my heat at the 100, and then dead last by the end of the race. It's serouisly demoralizing. They need to have a 100 fly/back event. That would ROCK. Anyway, I took it out in 1:16, and then finished in 2:52. So you do the math and please don't cringe too much. I finished 9th out of 14 in my AG. Same old.
By the 100 back I was freaking tired. Meets are exhausting. Still, back is my best stroke, so I had high hopes. I felt surprisingly good, and finished in 1:17, despite a totally pathetic back flop at the start. Four seconds off high school... but still. NOT so bad. I was 7th out of 12 in my AG, again, in the bottom middle. Hey, at least I'm consistent! Alina... was 1st AG in 1:07. She's consistent too.
I was with some awesome Maine girls (I swim for Maine) in the 200 free relay. No pressure, just fun. The big thing is not to jump the gun and DQ the relay. I had a pretty good start (I swam 2nd) and finished the 50 in 30.3. I have yet to break 30. Annoying. Alina's 200 free relay broke the NE record. She swam her 50 in 25.2. She is a sprinting swim goddess.
So that was my day! Are you still with me?
After the meet we had a fabulous dinner at the Border Cafe with Mike and John, two of our MESC (Maine) swimmer friends. Margaritas!!! Yum.
Stayed tuned for Part II of race weekend. It gets better. (at least for me!)
7 comments:
Awesome! I love that you wanted to skip warm up so you didn't have to get wet! I am worse. I'll pull the pool thermometer out and read it before I even touch the water. Then complain for 5 minutes while I do 2 million shoulder and arm stretches. HA. Good job!!
I cheated and looked up your run result. Holy Cow, that's fast! Not to dismiss the swimming results, which look pretty awesome to me, too.
Sounds like a fun meet. As a runner turned triathlete, your times look blazing fast to me.
Keep on swimming.
Nice job Mary! I think you swim twice as fast as I do! :-)
OK, race 1 made me laugh - it was nice to see that my house is not the only one that looks like a battlefield. As far as race 2, I think you are super fast. I am not even dreaming of ever swimming those times:) Yes, let's here about the Sunday race:)
so awesome mary, way to go. Gosh your getting faster, your going to have to tell me your secrets.
I should add more of a comment here, as there is lots of good stuff, but I simply can't wrap my head around Alina's times. I'm ....... speechless. I can't get the image of me swimming next to her, just a HAIR less than a FULL FREAKING LENGTH behind her after a 50!!!!!!! That's insane.
I will pretend that somehow it's not as bad as I imagine, given this was likely a meter pool and I swim in a yard pool. But I have a feel that it makes my numbers even worse so I won't go look up the conversion (which I should know but always forget).
CONGRATS on a huge weekend Mary!!! Nice job!
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