The hot summer sun bares down on me, making my shoulders feel as if they were in a pizza oven. My back would be burned, if not for the endless amounts of sunscreen my parents make me put on. I stare in to the blue water below and think of how cold it will feel when I dive into it. Usually, that is a bad thing, because that would mean I would have to warm up, but I realize I won't mind the temperature, because of the amount of adrenaline coursing through me. IM, I remind myself. I am swimming an individual medley. That means butterfly first. My coach swoops past and reminds me that the IM order is butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. That is so very helpful. It's not like I've known that since I was seven, my first year of swimming. I start wondering why coaches tell us things like that. Is it just to annoy us? I look down to see that the heat before me has finished. At the whistle, I step up onto the block. The timer guy announces the event, and the heat number. "SWIMMERS, TAKE YOUR MARKS" The Speaker system is extremely loud. I grab the bottom of the blocks with my hands, and tense up, ready to dive in. BEEEEEEEEP, the starting system exclaims, and I push off with my feet and fling myself at the water. This is very cold, I think before I start kicking.
photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/clappstar/8018679832/">clappstar</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>
You wrapped it up so well, Jack, like a package with the string tied! I like "This is very cold, I think before I start kicking." It all sounds a little jittery, adrenaline works like that, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteThat sounds fun. It must be pretty fun to get that rush and then jump in a pool.
ReplyDeleteYou paint a pic well of your feelings. Nice work.
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