This last weekend, the hubs and I sat in a chlorine-scented sauna for hours, where we learned to contort ours bodies into a ridiculously tiny space on uncomfortable bleacher seats.
Yes, my friends, we were at a swim meet . . . at our home pool.
Two summers ago, some school bond money went into the renovation of the pool. Even I, with no knowledge of how much something like this would cost, knew that a couple hundred thousand dollars wouldn't buy them much. It didn't. I won't go into the other major items that weren't addressed, but I will go into the problem of ventilation.
Supposedly the ventilation system was 'fixed'. If it was fixed, then it's hard to call it a good fix.
Though it was a small swim meet, the bleachers were packed every single day.
The bleachers aren't bad if there are only a few observers, but when people are packed in like sardines, sitting in the bleachers is a miserable experience.
You couldn't walk down a row because the knees of the people in the upper row are directly in the backs of the people in the lower row. It was only when someone got up to go to the bathroom could you feel a slight breeze from the ventilation. One of the swim moms said that before the ventilation fix the temperature would be about 120 degrees, well, I guess what they did worked because it was only about 98 degrees up there. . . yeah, still not comfortable!
Griping over with for now, I have to say that my kidlet did a great job swimming considering she managed to sprain her wrist the previous Sunday while roller skating. Last Tuesday, I took her into the doc for exam and then x-rays.
It wasn't broken, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. Luckily, since it was a medical issue, she was allowed to wear a wrap to help support it.
This is where having an animal supply place nearby comes in handy. I tried to find a Vetrap-type product at a sporting goods store, but all I found was Kineseology tape. Er, it wasn't waterproof. I made it to the animal supply place on Thursday.
Oh, what is Vetrap, you ask?
Have you ever gone into the doctor's office and had them draw blood?
I think it goes by a different name, Medrap, or something like that. Its the stretchy sticky skin tone stuff they wrap around the cotton ball they put over the needle hole.
The cool thing about Vetrap, other than the cheaper price, is the fact that it comes in a myriad of colors. I picked up hot pink, blue and purple.
. . . and for once, I could pick out my kid from the sea of similarly dressed and swim capped kids milling around waiting for their heat to start.
Sometimes having a meet at your home pool makes it difficult to get out of 'practice' mode and into competition mode, but my daughter killed it on Friday night. So much so that I think she spent the rest of the weekend in recovery mode!
One thing to note: a swimmer might add time to their event, but they BEST time in a two year period will be used to seed them in the heat line up.
I think that's right, but don't quote me!
Friday:
400 Medley -- no previous time -- 6:04.41 -- She killed it! She beat the OAG qualifying time by 15 seconds!
400 Free -- no previous time -- 5:39.91 -- I felt sorry for the girls who swam the 400 IM because they had to turn around and swim the 400 Free less than 10 minutes later! She was just 5 seconds off from qualifying for OAG, and totally exhausted, I might add!
Saturday:
200 Free -- 2:37.21-- previously qualified for OAG's --added 1 second.
100 Back --1:23.86 --minus 0.36 seconds
100 Fly -- 1:23.77 --added 0.35 seconds
50 Free -- 33.74 -- minus 0.95 seconds
Sunday:
200 Back --2:55.93 -- Previously qualified for OAGs- added 4 seconds
100 Breast -- 1:35.60 -- minus 2.00
100 Free -- 1:13.07 -- added 0.18 seconds
200 Fly -- 3:05.86 -- no previous time
All in all, the kidlet had a great meet--especially competing with a bunged up wrist!
Later, Peeps!