Today was the first day of competition at Mare Nostrum in Barcelona. I was pretty nervous! My times weren't spectacular, so I'm viewing today as more of a learning experience (man, it was one of those!). I was one of the tough kids who swam three events today. It was really tough because they were all very close together. When you add in warmdown, suitcheck, and the time you need to be in the ready room before they march you out to race, there isn't time for much else. My first event was the 100 Breaststroke and I was kind of confused because it hadn't occurred to me that they weren't going to say "take your mark", it was going to be in Spanish! The race wasn't great. Due to my nerves, I really spun my wheels (for those of you unfamiliar with swimming that means that I took too many strokes and didn't catch enough water in each cycle). I ended up going a 1:07 which is three plus seconds above my best time. I was disappointed because this was my first time representing USA and I felt like I was letting the team down. But 1:07 is my best untapered time and three seconds faster than I went at Bucetto's Open a couple weeks back so I am happy with it. It was hard to think my race was good at the time because everyone at this meet is just so dang fast! It is a humbling experience and makes we want to get back to training when I get home. My next races were the 400 Freestlye and the 200 Fly which I did better in. I did not make it back to finals but we had a kid on the team, Jacob Pebley, who beat Aaron Peirsol in the 200 Backstroke and got second in the event. He dropped a ton of time. Most of the people on our team aren't rested and are adding time so this was really excited.
The night session was really exciting. I started a wave cheer like we do at our high school meets. The Europeans ate it up! Everyone on our team is proud to represent USA and even though we haven't been together long, we are bonding really well. I'm trying to meet a lot of people from other countries because it is really interesting. I've traded a ton of caps and gotten some really cool ones that I am excited to show you guys!
Can't wait to see you guys (some of you in MEXICO!)
SAM
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