My First 500 Freestyle Event
My heart was pounding. I was about to step up on a diving block and dive head-first into freezing, cold water. Is that every girl's dream? No, but it's mine.
"Swimmers step up." I could hear the referee plainly and clearly.
My stomach started to twist into a knot. I put my foot up on the slick, cold block. I looked over at my competitors. These girls were not small, thin, puny, little females. I really wished I hadn't looked over. I was way more nervous now than before. These swimmers were tall and lean, and I knew they all wanted to win.
"Lane five?" the referee called out. He sounded very bored.
The girl in lane five was missing. Although I may not win, it was one less competitor for me to swim against. My coach had given me a seed time of 6:45.00. To me, that time was fast and scary.
"Swimmers...take your mark..."
These were the words I longed for. They echoed through the building as I waited to jump off the block. I was really apprehensive about this race. It was the first time I had ever swum this event, and my nerves were getting the better of me.
"BEEEEP"
With my heart pounding, I dove into seventy-eight degree water. Normally, when I'm racing, I don't have many thoughts other than to swim faster. However, this time I had many thoughts racing through my mind.
"Would I make my time? Would I come in last? Would I win? Would I even finish the race?" These were the thoughts were pounding in my brain.
I wanted to win this race just like every other girl here. If I wanted to win, I would I have to swim faster. I pushed myself through the first 200 yards. Every time I took a breath, I could hear the crowd cheering for their swimmers. Over top of them, I could hear my coach yelling very loudly and sharply, "GO!"
I pushed myself through the next 100 yards. Eight more laps to go. I tried to peer to my left. I didn't see anyone. Did this mean I was ahead or behind? I urged myself to go faster. If I was behind, I didn't want to be. I wanted to be ahead. Soon I had swum sixteen laps which meant I only had four more laps to go. I hardly had any energy left. I was afraid that I wasn't going to make it.
"C'mon," I urged myself, "you can swim another four laps can't you? Your coach wouldn't have signed you up if he knew you couldn't complete the task. You would let him down if you couldn't do it." Again, the thoughts started rambling through my brain.
These revelations gave me new energy. I could do it. I could swim another 100 yards. I pushed and pushed myself until there were only two laps remaining. I looked to my left where a girl was swimming beside me. Did she have more laps to swim or was she on her last lap too? I wasn't sure, so I used the last morsel of my energy to complete my long and hard task. There was only half a lap left until I was done. I could see the timing pad in front of me. I kicked my feet as hard as I could to get to the pad. I reached my hand out to hit the pad and have my first 500 freestyle event done. My hand hit the pad, and I immediately turned to look to see if any of my competitors had finished. No one had. I had come in first place! I turned my attention towards the clock which read 6:41.32! Not only had I beat my seed time, but I had won!
Once the next race started, I leaped out of the pool and ran to my coach. I was so proud!
"Good job, Jackie! You won the race! I'm so proud!" my coach exclaimed.
I walked to my parents feeling proud of what I had accomplished.
