NaNoWriMo 2020

11/1 - Late Start

Prepping for a race never made me super anxious, but that could just be because I'm not the best swimmer. I never felt the pressure to win or the pressure of letting my team down. The only thing I needed to do is beat my own time. I was racing against myself. Poetic, I know. but the truth is that this dual-meet was nothing new, just another data point to get precise timing on how well I had improved my breaststroke since last time. It was my last race for the day, I could use all of my energy here and then do nothing but watch Netflix when I get home. 

I approach the starting blocks and wait for the ref to tell us to step up and prepare to dive. I hear the whistle and climb the single step up to the block and look around to see my opponents, who aren't even there.

Wait, why? They were waiting behind the blocks just as I was minutes ago. Where did they go?

I look down into the water to see five pairs of eyes staring up at me mirroring my confusion back at me. All of my opponents had jumped in the water to start. Backstroke. This was a backstroke event. A glance at the schedule would have told me that it was the 100 yard backstroke a full two events after my breaststroke race would have been.

I might have only been racing against myself, but I just lost.