I AM THE CHAMPION!!

On Sunday I reasserted my alpha male standing with the team. The much hyped-up showdown between Nicole (the ex-gf) and myself was truly one of my greatest swimming accomplishments (not that I have many, if any at all). At first, I thought I was safe...we got placed in different heats, so at least I could compare times after it was all over, but not be embarrassed by her kicking my ass. I knew that if she did beat me, I'd never hear the end of jokes about my bottom'ness, or who the 'real man of the relationship' was. But then a teammate volunteered to switch heats with me so I could be in the lane next to hers: nervousness returns. Not only did she look strong during warm-up, but I was totally slack at practice to prior week and felt weak that day. Luckily, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm a competitor--no matter how personally embarrassing it might be for me to swim behind various people at practice, I can always turn it out at the meets. This is not to assert that I'm "good" by any standard, I just do much better relative to others in competition.

BAM! The gun goes off, and at the 25m mark I already have a body length on my once muscular-turned voluptuous ex-gf. My stroke felt good, which was reassuring. I was doing my flip turn pull down, and she had just reached the wall: 3 body lengths. Thank god. But will she come back? She was always a strong finisher; I am not. I touch the wall after two lengths of the 50m pool, winning my heat. Nicole strokes in 7 seconds behind. SEVEN SECONDS! Realize that back in high school she would easily kick my ass by 7 seconds. Life has come full circle.

So it turns out that I won the event for my age group. Yaay! My first victory in many years. More to come, hopefully.