Monday, December 30, 2013

#51 The Tide in Maine to Ring Out 2013

I did say the blog would live on and this was a memorable swim event for the journey to continue.

The Tide had their annual trip to Maine and I was asked to help chaperone.  The destination was Bowdoin College for a dual meet against Greeley High School and a Pentathlon meet the second day. We traveled by motor coach with 46 high school kids and the silliness inherent with that. Most notable was solo rendition of White Christmas by one of the boys. The a Bowdoin pool and field house are nice and as expected the Tide won the meet handily.


The Pentathlon meet was a new format for myself and the team. In the pentathlon you do a 100 of each stroke and finish with a 200IM and those with the lowest cumulative time wins. The meet was for high school kids, USA Swimming kids and masters. I told Coach Valz what the heck enter me. As it turned out there were only two masters-yours truly and a wicked fast 26 year old also a Weston coach. The heats are by seed time and mixed with boys and girls of all ages. As you can imagine I looked quite funny up there amongst the kids. It was the first time in many many years I had actually raced in these events.

So here are my results:

100fly 1:08.12
100back 1:11.81
100breast 1:13.31
100 free 58.33
200IM 2:35.01 (I thought it was 2:34.84)

A couple of interesting tidbits 

-100 free: I was in the same heat as Sean (15) who is basically a freestyle skier but a diver and an occasional swimmer for the team. He is actually a good swimmer but doesn't like it and doesn't train that much. He is darn good for about a 50. Well,the announcer says over the PA it's a race between father and son "let's see who wins". Not ideal, Sean and I had enough back and forth already and I didn't need the extra pressure. He swam a 57.95 and I was a 58.33. He beat me but age adjusted I think I won. Apparently, the announcer commentated the whole race.

-200 IM: I miseeded myself with a 3:00! My high school kids very nicely pointed out that the average age of the heat was 11 years old-and with me in the heat the average age was 15!!! The kid next to me came only up to my waist-seriously. I won by at least 30 seconds-very embarrassing.

-Sean won 3 of 5 events vs me. I crushed him in the 100 br, and we were a few seconds off in the other events. It was very, very close with respect to the lowest cumulative time but I eked it out the win 706.58 versus 706.65. Very lucky.

We had a fun time going back and forth with it. Very fun to compete with each other. Sean is a tough competitor.



After the meet we went to Sugarloaf, ME for a few days of skiing. I was so bushed the first night I sent the family out to dinner and I went to bed. We had a good time despite the cold and Sean's and my bi-annual visit with the ski patrol (nothing serious).

2013 was an awesome year! Looking forward to all that 2014 has to offer!!! 

I am blessed by family, friends and opportunity!

100x100's with the Tide during Christmas Break.

No comments:

Post a Comment