Race Report- 1st Swim Meet

I'm a swimmer!!!

I mentioned to my coach a few weeks ago that I wanted to swim in a meet, he immediately responded, "You will, and a year later you'll swim at US Masters Nationals."  I've been swimming for a year now, and it is time to challenge myself.  Being ready for Masters Nationals, I don't know, but I definitely want to start competing to see where I am.  Don't forget my motto for the year- "Live Life Out Loud!"  He and a few of the other local coaches convinced me to sign up for an event in a local high school meet.  It was an extra HS meet for swimmers to earn qualifying times for their conference and state meets, so anyone could really sign up because everyone competes as individuals.

So here I am..27 years old, competing in my first swim meet!!!  The days leading up, I had a lot of work to do.  One of the big things was learning to dive, period, and then to dive off the blocks! I also had to work on my flipturns, since I was going to have to nail one at full speed for the 50 freestyle.  I was soooo nervous that day.  My coach entered a seed time of 39.99 seconds and I was determined to beat it.  No matter how fast I swam, I knew that I would be eating the high schooler's bubbles. But, this was all about me and pushing outside my comfort zone.  I climbed on the blocks when they called us up and my legs were shaking.  I nearly fell off the blocks and false started.   I haven't been that nervous doing anything in a very long time. When the gun went off I dove in and was off.  I swam as fast as I could, the whole time worrying about having to nail the upcoming flip turn.  I took 4 or 5 breaths into the wall (A big NO NO in the swimming world), basically hyperventilating, flipped ok, but came off deep.  After getting out of the turn, I swam as fast as I could and got my hand on the wall. No matter what my time was, I was proud of myself for what I had done.  I crossed a huge hurdle in my swimming career, swimming in my first event!

But then... I turned my head to look at the scoreboard and it said 39.40!!! When I started a year ago, it took me 1 min 15 seconds to swim a 50. I have almost cut my time in half! I beat my Coach's goal time for me and exceeded my own expectations!!! And in that moment, I realized I was hooked!!!

2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY- Left

*Left: 2 year surgery anniversary*

What's New?  Strength Training.  Re-learning every single movement pattern over from scratch.  Starting with squats and lunges and progressing through the olympic and power lifts. My legs and especially my calves are still considerably weak compared to my pre-surgery self.  I also want to continue getting faster in the pool, which means I need to build some strength on land.

Happy New Year 2015!

*Left: 2 Years*   *Right: 19 months*

New Year, New Opportunities to push the boundaries of my comfort zone! 

As an extroverted introvert by nature, I have allowed my introversion to win while going through these surgeries. I've spent so much time alone on the long road to recovery.  After all, it was my fight to win, my challenge to triumph over...twice.  It was also tough moving away from the support system I had built over seven years and starting my faculty career right in the middle of the recovery from these surgeries.  As I reflect back, one of the hardest parts related to my feet was transitioning to a new physical therapist.  My former PT and I had built a great rapport and it was tough leaving so soon after my second surgery.  As reported in my blog, it took a while for my new PT and I to get into a groove. Now that I have a lot more function back in my feet and am a year and a half into my faculty position, I no longer have excuses to hold myself back from living out loud.  I am ready for the world again.  This year I vow to do all the things that I've always wanted to do.  Life is too short to hold back parts of myself.  I've been so focused and so programed to achieve highly academically that I haven't allowed myself nearly enough time to figure out who I am without it.  My surgeries taught me who I was without athletics, without leading an active lifestyle.

Who cares what people think about the real me?  The most important thing is that I am being my authentic self, not the person I think that people want me to be.

So...first challenge--> Going out on my own for new years for the first time.  Went to a NYE party downtown and had a blast.  Funny story, I actually ran into my RA from my freshman year of college who I hadn't seen in 9 years.  I spent New Year's Day with my swim team.  We have an annual special swim practice and party to kick off each year the right way.

Now about what to do with my blog.  Each year I post less and less, the good stuff and major changes are in the first few days and months after surgery.  Year 1, I posted almost daily.  Year 2, I posted monthly.  For Year 3 and beyond, I will just post the major milestones.  There is not much progress to report regarding my feet, just new life accomplishments.