A Good Run

The Girl woke up Friday feeling yucky.  Her throat was scratchy and her sinuses felt congested, but she got up and went to practice anyway, as their County Swim Finals was Saturday morning.

Saturday she got up...in a stupor, but we thought it was because it was early on a Saturday.  But she wasn't feeling well then either.  Before we left I took her temperature and it was normal.  But as the meet progressed, I could tell she was feeling worse and worse.

She swam the Medley relay with her team and they set a new country record.  Then the 100 free before she had a long break to wait until her 200 IM.  In that break she was snuggled under two blankets and laying in the sunshine--it was already warm by then--and she was still shivering.  So I knew she was sick.

Finally the IM got called to the bullpen and she went, looking a bit drunk to be honest.  She sat as still as she could, reserving every bit of energy she had for the pool.  As the starter called them to the blocks and to take their marks, she looked like she was going to fall off the blocks because she was so unbalanced.  But the gun went off and she dove in.

She swam one of the fastest IMs I've ever seen her swim.  Her stoke count is still significant slower than the other swimmer, but her efficiency in the water was spectacular.  Her breaststroke especially was beautiful to watch.  The closer competitor nearly pulled ahead of her during the fly, but The Girl came back and overtook her in the back, and she never let up.  she even put some distance on the girl in the breaststroke.

The Girl's goal this summer was to beat the County record in the IM.  It was a 2:32.78  and just from watching a the end of the pool, I thought she was on record pace.  She was pouring it on.

As she plowed into the wall at the end, I could tell that she was exhausted.  I sent two of her Medley teammates to the blocks to help her out of the pool.  She was spent and couldn't even get herself out of the water.  She needed help walking back to her coaches.  She sat with them for a could of events while she tried to gather her strength.

With a little assistance she came back to the tent area and after talking with her coach, she decided that she'd scratch the 100 breaststroke and they would put someone else in her place for the free relay at the end of the meet, so she could go home and rest. 

We brought her home and checker her temp again, and it was 101º.  She was pale and looked like she'd been hit by a truck.  She didn't even quibble about going to bed.  In fact, I had to ask her to please put on dry clothes first or she'd have fallen into bed in her suit.

She slept all day.  It was just what she needed.  She had a little bit where she though she was going to throw up and sat at the rim of the toilet, but never got much up.  Then she went back to bed.

In the evening we got a text that she missed the IM record by 2/10th of a second.  I was bummed for her, but she knew she couldn't have done any more in the condition she was in that day, and it was valiant effort.  I guess she couldn't be disappointed in her goals when she left everything she had in the pool.  And if this was her last meet, I guess that isn't a bad way to go.

Swim Team Getting Cozy

Last Saturday was a swim meet at another pool, so I didn't have to work it.  Consequently I saw a lot of my kids, and the other high school aged swimmers on our team.

This is mostly what I saw:

 The Boy is the center of the attention here....

 But, The Girl is getting attention too, just in the shade.

 I had to be really covert to get these shots....The Boy was suspicious.

In all honesty, I think the kids were just keeping each other entertained until it was their turn to swim again.  And it was funny to sit in the midst of all this teenage energy.  This meet was the final regular season one before the County Finals, the first weekend of August.

Heart Break And Happiness

Last night I was sitting as the university competition pool, getting ready to watch the state swimmers warm up.  The meet was due to start in about an hour.  My phone jiggled and I knew I had a text.

I pulled my phone out of my bag and flipped to the text.  A PTA friend messaged me that one of our high school seniors had committed suicide an hour or so before now.  My heart sank. How devastating.  I immediately felt sympathy for her parents, siblings and family friends.

There were not many details yet--just an announcement.  My friend asked that if I hear anything, to please let her know.  So I shot out a message to a teacher-friend and another PTA friend who happens to be a long term sub at the moment--both teaching at the high school.  Had they heard?  Did they know anything of her? Her family?

The meet got started, and I tried to focus on the happiness all around me.  I watched senior swimmers who, undoubtedly, had worked their whole "career" for the minute and a half shot for a championship in the water.  I saw teams spend their efforts to pull off great achievements in speed and coordination.  I watched some freshman and sophomores upset older student swimmers to reach their own achievements, likely to be repeated or defended for years to come.

Then my phone jiggled again.  Texts coming in.  My teacher friends hadn't heard much, but the details were starting to be discovered.  A fight with a boyfriend. A drive up the canyon. That boyfriend who found her hanged. Impromptu student candlelight vigil arranged for to be held in another two hours. Messages flooded to the students to wear their Sunday best to honor her memory.  Again, my heart was breaking.

The Girl stood atop the block, waiting for the start.  The race began and she was off.  Really off, actually.  She wasn't swimming like herself.  And it was difficult to watch.  She pushed through whatever she was fighting in her head to finish--8th place in her heat.  Not at all what er saw two weekend ago at the region finals.  But she still swam the 200 yards in less time that her regular season time.  Didn't get a personal best i this meet, but she finished--and not the very last in the event.  There are only 19 others in the state faster than her.  That is still something to celebrate.  I'm still very proud of her reaching her goal--just by qualifying for the state championship.

The final event that we watched last night was the 50 freestyle.  At the Olympics this event is called the "Splash and Dash" and the winner is crowned the "fastest in the water". One of our Viking swimmers was the top seeded entrant.  He was off the blocks like a shot and back before we knew it.  21.2 seconds.  What can you so that fast?  Swim 50 yards? Nope?  Me neither.  But Nate can, and he did!  He was our first State Swim champion!  I was so happy for him!  And for our team!

Between the good I saw at the swim meet and the unfurling heartbreaking details of this local tragedy, there was some tempering.  The spectrum of human emotions is a broad range.  And I saw both ends of it regarding our little high school community.

Looking For An Edge

The Girl, we learned over the weekend, qualified for the state swim championship!  This was her overall goal this year for swimming.  I'm very proud of her.  After the times she dropped last weekend at their region meet, we were fairly certain she had done enough for the state qualification.  We now know for sure.

In anticipation of this week's "careering ending" meet, she ordered a clearance teach suit.  This one cost about as much as her regular team suit  (because it was clearanced) but these suits can run into the $300-500 range at times.  Luckily, she didn't see any reason to go that crazy.  But she is hoping the added edge these supreme racing suits give will help her drop again for another personal best in her event.

The women's 4x100 yard freestyle relay also qualified, but The Girl was the only individual Viking girl to make the cut.  That was an impressive feat.  Here's hoping for success on Thursday night!

Preparation Pays Off?

Both The Girl and The Boy swam last weekend in the Region finals championship swim meet for the high school team.  In addition to the "taper" their coaches put them trough to be physically ready for  their races, Saturday morning, they also did one more not-so-little thing:  shave

This turned into one of the funniest things I had seen in a long time. And while I loved seeing htem work together and cooperate, it was still a little unnerving.

 First they each tried to use the Nair...thinking it would be the easiest way to be hairless.

 

 

 The Girl was helping The Boy, as he had no idea what he was doing at first.

 Grody.  That is all I have to say for this one.

The Boy couldn't stand the smell....didn't really make itany easier to do than just shaving, I guess.

 

 

 

He thought shaving his armpits was the craziest thing!

 It kind of is, when you start by using the "Beard trimmer" to cut back some of the length.

 Then, using a little bottle of travelsize shaving cream, he got down to business.  By now he didn't want help.

 Very funny.  From this look, you'd think we were torturing him.

 The Girl didn't have any of the issue The Boy had with this chore.  I guess that is a good thing!

Inspection?  Looks pretty smooth!  He passed.

That evening they swam in their events and they both dropped time in each of their races:  

The Boy dropped 1/2 second in the 50 yard freestyle and .75 second in his 100 yard freestyle.

He ended up in 24th place in each event.  Not bad for a sophomore that hardly got pool time.

The Girl dropped 5 seconds in her 200 IM!! And she dropped 3 seconds more in her 100 Breatstroke.

Her goal was to make it to the state meet. and with those times, she is anticipating qualifying for the State Championships on February 6 & 7.  We will know for sure by the first of next week.

I guess getting hairless was enough of the edge they needed.

News Flash!

 A few things to add--hot off the presses:

1) If you are a swimmer's grandma, who happened to print off the entries for the medley relays the night before a meet for your own delight and to keep track of your precious 7 year old, please don't tell me I'm doing my job wrong when my heat sheet (line up sheet) that was printed this morning is more current than yours.  Coaches make all sorts of changes.  If you don't competely undestadn what I do to run this bull pen, please don't change what I have done.  Your screaming in my face when I am coordinating a LOT of kids and trying to get them in the right relays as their coaches changed this morning as fast as I can, really wrankles my hide--and, frankly, makes me want to swear.  So, I took a lap around the pool.  And I really dislike running. 

And 2) The Girl got her AP (Advanced Placement) scores from her Biology and Calculus finals (she took back in May) in the mail today.  She scored 5 (out of a possible 5) on both.  I believer, with her 34 ACT score most recently, that she has a great "pay-for-college" plan....SCHOLARSHIP!!  The Boy will then have the option of our little "send the kids to college fund" to pay for his collegiate plans...good thing (he and) we have a few extra years.

Letter to the Editor

After waiting all week to see ANYTHING in the local paper about our swim team's region finals, I got mad enough to write a letter to the editor of our county paper.  Here it is.  I'll let you know if any of it gets printed.

Dear Editor:

I generally appreciate all the coverage of local high school sports. I love to hear about the athletes who play their hearts out for their schools.  However, this week I was really looking forward to seeing the results of the Region 4 (5A) Swim championships.  This event was held on Saturday, January 28th at the beautiful South Davis Recreation Center aquatic facility. 

As you know, Region 4 includes Lehi, American Fork, Lone Peak, Pleasant Grove, Riverton and Bingham high schools.  Considering that 4 of those 6 schools involved in this championship swim meet were Utah County schools, I figured The Daily Herald would cover it.  I hoped, at the very least, the results would be listed in the “scoreboard” section of the paper on Sunday or Monday.  I have been wrong in assuming that, as not a single word was mentioned.

I am a mom of a high school swimmer.  My daughter and many other high school swimmers have spent much their spare time since September —including over their Christmas vacation-- in the pool.  In our team’s case, much of that pool time is only available because they swim in a neighboring city’s pool because our own city pool is not just closed, but empty, from October through April.  These kids have to be really committed if they want to swim for our high school team. The swim season is the longest season of any of the local high school sports, as far as I can tell.  Yet, there is minimal or no coverage of their achievements in your paper.

I understand that the basketball games are better attended and more frequently played and that football and wrestling are more popular.  But, as the big local paper in the county, I would hope that all sports within the season would be covered by the paper.  Every student athlete is giving their all.  Every student athlete who has committed to playing for their school deserves some recognition. 

There were region records shattered at the swim meet Saturday.  Student athletes made personal best times and helped their schools advance to the state finals.  Coaches watched their student athletes achieve their goals.  Parents and families cheered on our kids until our voices were gone. All these kids had a great swim meet!  And it was a lot of fun to watch.

I urge you to please reconsider your coverage of ALL the high school sports.  Please include the lesser recognized sports each season and give those kids their due.  For most of these kids, their athletic career ends with their high school sports.  Please cover their achievements as well as those who may go on to sign with a Division I university.  Not every student chooses to play football or basketball. But they each have the same athletic heart and high school team spirit.  Please make it a point to celebrate those kids too.

This Just In

We just got back from the Gold Swim Meet, the county finals for the summer recreation swim season.  It was held at Lehi's Legacy Center, and the Lehi folks running the show did a terrific job.  The meet ran smoothly and, all things considered, rather quick too.  And I didn't have to do a dang thing but watch my own kids--and cheer for those on our team!

The Legacy Center in Lehi has a fantastic aquatics center, and luckily today it was closed to the public throughout the meet.  This gave us the whole place to spread out and make camp then we could walk in to watch our kids' events.  Much more enjoyable then being mashed into a viewing area that isn't big enough for two teams' families--much less all eight teams in our county summer league.

The Boy got back from a week long, high adventure camp at Flaming Gorge with his scout group yesterday afternoon.  He hasn't been at practice all week.  We weren't sure how he would do--physically or emotionally--considering the lack of sleep and nutrition this past week.  But he ended up doing really well!

The Boy swam the 50 yard freestyle sprint, the Medley Relay (4x50), 100 freestyle, 50 yard breaststroke and the freestyle relay (4x50).  Unofficially--meaning that these are the times I wrote down from the unofficial poolside scoreboard--he did better than his seed times across the board.

50 yard freestyle: 32.03 seconds
200 yard Medley Relay: 2.21.11  The coach tells me they took first place!!
100 yard free: 1.11.??
50 yard breast: 38.55 On this one, he dropped 3 seconds from his previous best time.
And I didn't get their relay time....we were all relieved to be almost done by that point in the meet.  But I think they took 2nd place.

The Girl has focused in to the county record for the breaststroke in her age group since she swam faster than the record at one of our mid-season dual meets.  She has a very natural stroke and since she swam year round this year, her technique has only gotten better.  Her Individual Medley--meaning she swims 50 yards of each of the four strokes herself (as opposed to a RELAY)--has really gotten a boost since her breaststroke time has improved.  An IM can be won or lost with the breaststroke leg of that race. 

Her times were very impressive!  Unofficially, of course, here is what I recorded:
200 yard Medley Relay: 2.11.20 (County record had been 2.14.51) First place, and a new relay record!
100 yard freestyle: 1.02.74--taking a surprising 2nd place.
200 yard IM: 2.36.51--she took first in this event!
100 yard breast: 1.19.80 (Previous county record was 1.21.80) First place, and new indivual record!!
And I didn't her free-relay time either...or the just for show "Coaches' Relay"...but both of these were fun to watch!

Our team's kids--overall--did a great job today.  Genius Golfer even heard another team's coaching staff talking amongst themselves who asked "How does their (meaning, our) team just kill us every summer but not carry that momentum into the high school season?!"  Good question, really.
Alas, for our high school swim season, it is really a quest for The Girl to achieve her personal best...and enjoy the team for what it is worth.  Too much politics, personality conflicts and teenage dramatics to make it worth much more than that to her.  Luckily she sees the advantage of swimming, despite all the high school hijinks.

But what a great day today!  I was so proud of both the kids and their efforts to reach their goals!  Now, The Boy's efforts shift immediately to football.  Two-a-day practices begin Monday morning!

Ahhh, the joys of parenthood!

Tuff Enough

The Boy's back "tatt" is photo number one, and The Girl's is the next pair--the same single "tatt" but depending on how she moved her shoulder blade it looked like the fish was actually "swimming". Thanks again, Mr. H!

Off to the Races

This morning is part one of our county finals swim meets. The Boy is swimming today. I am running the bull pen again. And thanks to our dear friend Mr. H both kids are decked out in their racing fish "tatts". Gross sometimes, but sure makes for a good conversation piece.

Wish us (all) luck!

Bad Mom

The Girl swam this morning in the Region HS Championships. I forgot to bring the camera. Genius Golfer forgot the video camera.

Who am I? And what have I become?!

Swimmers, Take Your Mark

The Swim Meet today is against Provo's city team. That means, of course, since it is not at our pool, we are swimming at Echo Canyon, I mean, the Provo Rec Center. It is an indoor pool. Muggy, humid, echo-y. Good reminder to bring the Tylenol.

For The Girl, this is the final meet before our county finals. Next week she will miss the meet with Springville because of trek. The following week will be the county finals.

For The Boy, who already missed the team's time trials and the Spanish Fork meet due to Scout camps, he will swim in both the upcoming meets and then the finals. Then, he tells me, he is "done swimming". I am not sure about this, but he seems to think we FORCE him to swim everyday. What I believe is the real story is, I force him to the pool every morning--whether he swims for the team is his choice. But if The Girl is going for the team workout, and I am going for the water aerobics, then he can come and read a book, or do some math review, or spelling helps--if he chooses not to swim. Now, does THAT sound like I am forcing him?! I didn't think so. He is so dramatic. [Wonder where he gets that from?]

So we are headed to Provo in a bit. Knowing we are getting to the end of the season, I am a bit sad. I like the swim season. I like the kids being up and at it in the morning. I love being at the pool. I love the swim team kids I get to work with in the bull pen.

After this summer hobby, scrapbooking just doesn't hold the same social interactions for me. I guess that is what PTA work is for, right?!

Early...Too Early

Wow! The day is long when it starts at 5 AM.

We had a swim meet in Payson this morning. Payson, the birth place of my two children; the place of nativity for the fruit of my loins....

I must be tired, because that sounded funny to me.

Anyway, we had to be in Payson at 6:30 for warm ups before the meet was to begin at 7 AM. I was thrilled to see the Tijuana Condos were back for this meet. We have lovely and friendly swim team families that I thoroughly enjoy, but when we host the meet I am working the bull pen, so I don't get to sit around and visit or even try to catch up with anyone.

I love that my kinds are old enough and bright enough and generally aware enough to get themselves to the bull pen (at any pool they are swimming in) so I just do my own thing. Today, my thing was sitting under the tent canopy, chatting with friends, and taking photos of our swimmers while being barked at by Payson lifeguard to get back behind the barrier since I was not a swimmer.

That is probably another story, but it made me hope that people who come to swim against us at our pool don't think we are rude, or pushy, or mean, or overbearing. Maybe they do and I just don't know it. If so, don't tell me any different, because just last week I had a Spanish Fork mom tell me she enjoyed being at our pool because we were so nice and friendly and made it fun to be there all morning.

That was the first comment of that kind I have heard from visiting families, but I like to think that is the predominate thought as they leave our lovely pool each time. Again, don't tell me if you have heard differently. I'm going to enjoy my little happy world this evening.

I hope that before my kids are done with their time in the city swim team we get a chance to host the county finals meet, and let people see how well we run a meet, and hope they recognize what a well run meet looks like, and make some of the money too.

I feel my eye lids drooping, so I must close...seem to be rambling...need some sleep tonight...or just need to NOT be in Payson at 6:30 AM. Yeah. That is the ticket.

My Kingdom for a NAP!

I got up at 5 AM this morning, to get ready and take Genius Golfer to the airport this morning then went directly to a meeting with the Stake Presidency about Girls' Camp that is coming next week, then home long enough to eat something for breakfast, get kids checked over before church, then to church for our 3 hour block of meetings and home to grab some lunch and I fell into my yet unmade bed and took a nap for about 3 hours.

Some days I think the hours I keep just make me exhausted, other times it is the business of keeping (what I am actually doing in those hours) that makes me so tired. Then I am also faced with the sad reality that my body is aging, with or without me, and may actually need m ore sleep too.

Yesterday, the kids had their last regular dual swim meet before next week's County Finals. I had gone with every intention of sitting and watching and cheering for my kids. But, as tends to be the case, the team that was hosting didn't have the help they should have had and I got called on to run the bull pen. (The "bull pen" is swim-slang for the place where the swimmers are lined up and placed into the correct heats and lanes for the various events.) The lady whom I was to help was also running the front desk of the public city pool and basically told me that I had it covered and left me as the first event was being called to the Bull Pen.

At our pool, we have an average of 3-4 moms work the Bull Pen with extra runners helping line up little tiny kids when it is their turn. I had two HS age lifeguard acting as runners from the host team, and Me.

It was in indoor pool which always adds to the auditory confusion and increasing the need to YELL. Plus, was it hot in there. Good thing Dear Friend Kelly's good husband, Roger, brought me a bucket of Diet Coke at some point or I would have melted into a puddle of goo.

By 10:45, I had the last events in place and sent over to the starting blocks and the meet was all but over. Whew. I needed a nap yesterday too, and even went so far as to fall asleep twice only to be woken up shortly after by children, phones, doorbells, etc.

So when I saw the opportunity for a nap today, I jumped on it like nobody's business. It felt great. Yet, I'm sure that I'll still be ready to sleep tonight again. Sad isn't it, that when the kids are little and they need the extra sleep they don't want to take a nap, and when we get older and busier and want the extra sleep we don't have the chance to take naps. Cosmic humor. You have got to love that.

Well, sleep well, my friends. We probably need it.

Compare and Contrast: Swim Meets

So far we have had 2 "away" swim meets. One in Spanish Fork just over a week ago, and this weekend our meet with Lehi is in 2 parts: Part 1) Friday afternoon the novice swimmers at the Lehi Legacy Center pool and today, Part 2) the more advanced swimmers at our pool.

The SF meet began about 7 AM with a call for "more parents needed to time the meet. We'll start as soon as we have enough timers." Many Pleasant Grove parents heed the call and go help. Fast forward, 5 and a half hours and we are f i n a l l y done.

Yesterday at the Lehi pool, the meet began about 3:30-ish with a call "for parents to come help time the meet. We'll start as soon as we get enough parents to help time." Again, many parents from the PG team head down to help. Fast forward again, this time about 3.5 hours--remember, it is ONLY a NOVICE meet--and we are finally done but without ANY RELAYS.

Contrast those two situations with ours today. We hosted the advanced swimmers from Lehi. We began later than normal, closer to 7:30 AM. No Lehi parents were requested to help time. We had enough PG parents help time, plus run a concession stand, plus run a ribbons table, plus run the entire meet on the computer, plus start & judge the events!

In the Bull Pen, we had a completely screwed up list of Lehi swimmers (apparently because separating the novice and advanced meets would be too much work) and had to scratch and then add swimmers to every event. Fast forward this morning, and we got out of the pool including cleaning up and moving benches, chairs, chaise lounges before 10:30 AM. And we held EVERY RELAY.

I love swim meets at our pool. I may have lost my voice but not my appreciation for all our PG swim family parents that step up and realize that even though it is "only a rec team" there is more to do than write a check and get your kids to practice every day.

PS--I saw a handful of Lehi coaches at The Pizza Factory at lunch after the meet and they smiled at me--without any snarky undermeanings. I love swim meets--when they are at our pool.