My Swimming Teammates

To be completely honest I had a TOTALLY different post scheduled for today but two things happened last night to cause me to change my mind. Since the new year I have joined a new gym and attend what they call "swim practice" twice a week.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be going to a swim practice so soon after my collegiate career ended but last night really proved to me how different this hour of swimming is compared to what I was used to. 

As a bit of background I was able to swim before age of three and since then I have been a water baby and despite my love and dedication to the sport the only real way I made it through 14 years of competitive swimming was because of my teammates. Last night I with complete strangers and the coach did not know me at all.  But instead of complaining about a fellow swimmer who thought my goggles were mirrored in order to check my makeup (hello, LCM backstroke) and about a coach who thought I was "cheating" when I did a kick set on my back instead of with a board - I am going to stick with what I told  Sharon for the Tiny Heart Giveaway "to laugh more, forgive more, and love more". 

This post is going to be a massive thank you to all of the swimmers who got me through, which by some accounts, was 3,200 hours in the pool.  

From a young age you were the reason I got up at 4:00am to get in the pool at 5:00am. I vow never to see that hour again in relation to exercise but all of your smiling faces were the reason I made it there. 

In college you were the reason Friday nights were movie night and Saturday morning I had already been up for five hours before my roommate's alarm went off.  You may be all over the country but I love you, the amazing nine, and we will be close forever, that I vow! 

Thank you to all of you who made competitive swimming a magnificent chapter of my life!