The feeling you get when you step on the block doesn’t compare to the feeling you get when you finish the race. Your body is numb and the only thing you can think about is finishing the race. You trained months, weeks, and even years for this one day. You wrap your toes around the edge of the blocks and see your coach ready to take your splits. You hear your teammates saying things that never make sense, but somehow you wouldn’t be able to swim well without hearing those things. You do your pre-race “dance,” and feel ready to take on the world. The official says,”take your marks” and you’re ready. You hear the beep go off, and bam you jump and streamline. The only competition is you and you’re about to beat her. You pull the water and kick really hard. You know that you tried your best and your best is all that you can do. You look at the results and smile big. You just swam your best time.






