8:30’ and it’s time to get up. I had already filled my bag with goodies to last me through the stench of chlorine and the screams of girls rumbling through the pool. We jump in the car still half asleep, I have  nutri-grain bar in my right hand while i look out the window and contemplate the exhaust of the day to come”. I've already thought of ten different reasons to get out of the pool. I walk into the lobby and the lingering smell has already met my nose.I cringe. The bleachers are cold and stiff as I set my things down and get everything i need to stretch my body and get ready. Warm up gets done and the girls have gotten louder as the time goes by, I sit there until the paper makes its way over to me.

As i check my events for what i have to swim for the day” the anxiety kicks in and I become jittery and anxious to get it over with. The paper reads “savannah”, 100 free 100 relay 50 fly,I think to myself and realize it's what I have to do .My event comes down and I walk over the pool standing next to a bunch of obnoxious girls waiting for there rely to start as every eyeball in the crowd draws to you like a spotlight shining down.
  

I head up and stand on the block within seconds I hear “take your mark’ and next thing you know we are off and all I feel is the cold water hitting against my body you hear rumbles of people cheering you on but yet again you hear nothing. As my body gets weak from the hard kicks and my arms go limp. I finish and i take a big breath in trying to keep up and the best feeling of them all if seeing your time. Getting first place makes you warm and proud. I finish the race and walk back sit down to catch my breath, my family comes up to congratulate me and start judging how I could have been better like always, as if I'm michael phelps.and my family had made there way over to me. My head throbbing like a heartbeat and my arms are weak as a skimpy boy. My parents stop by and give me a heads up on what i did wrong and give me food as if i have never ate anything before, I sit there waiting for the next event while i play games and figure out why flamingos are pink. I had begun swimming two years before. I thought it would be fun and great exercise, little did I know that I would soon be addicted to it and never turn away. I was definitely not a natural, I slowly worked my way up the pole with the worst to one of the best and slowly I never thought swim would bring me to such great people who bring me joy but yet such hate.
I can apply this to any aspect of my life which is the amazing thing about swimming. When you are swimming a long set and feel like you are going to drown but beneath the water is different, complete world, i feel like Arial and it’s so fun. It’s almost impossible to describe every aspect of it. I feel alive under the water. Swim team was hard. It was never an easy thing to wake up at five A.M. to dive into an ice cold pool in the middle of December. No one understood and they never really would get it. I eventually stopped trying and stopped caring about them. I begged my parents to let me quit. But, "we aren't quitters" my dad would say to suck it up and dreading every practice,every single swim meet. My muscles hurt and I was so tired all the time. It seemed like I couldn't get enough sleep; then it was over.

But I do miss the feeling of a meet. I miss waiting beside the block, dancing to calm my adrenaline. I miss climbing on the starting block and looking down into the blue water. I would wait anxiously for the whistle, always nervous I would false start. But it was just me and the water when I dove in. It was so cold when my skin touched the water. I felt fast when my flip turn splashed my family cheering by the edge of the pool. I could feel my heart beating faster and faster with each lap. Then I touched the wall and it was over.

I would be lying if I told you I didn't care about winning.Winning was top priority and I did win many times, but now that it's over what does that mean? I may have won, but now I smell the chlorine and remember what that used to mean to me. I may not be a swimmer anymore, but it will always be a part of me. Trust me i'm not the best at what i like but i sure can enjoy it and hate it with just a thought of swim. It has made me stronger and even though it has every part of my body  ache. I still loved it.