Losing Makes You Stronger

This past Saturday was Loudonville's summer swim league championship. All three of my boys have swam on the team since they were 4 yrs. old until they graduated from HS. Keith is the only one left swimming and for some odd reason, didn't think he had to go to practice, only show up for the meets. That worked for the two meets he swam in but for the championship, he learned his lesson, as hard as it may be! All three of the boys are natural athletes. They could/can do any sport they choose and with alittle effort, they excel very well. For some odd reason, when it comes to swimming, they are all very good breaststrokers. Corey holds the league and pool breaststroke records and swam in the winter during HS. Kyle stopped swimming after JH and decided to come back for his last year and won the breast in the league champs after 5 yrs. of no swimming. And then we have Keith. He has always been trying to get Corey's records and seems to fall short by tenths of seconds. Last year, he won the breast in the champs, in his first year in the 15-18 age group. This year, he THOUGHT he would have no trouble repeating!! He was seeded first by 3 seconds, so from what I understand, his head got alittle big! I, of course, was running the BT 50k and missed the meet :( He raced to 7th in the 50m freestyle and 10th in the 50m butterfly, which was no surprise because the only thing he cared about was the breast!! Mark told me that Keith was very nervous before the start of the race. He had a good start and pull out but another swimmer from another team was right with him. At the turn, Keith had a slight lead but soon lost it and found himself neck and neck with the other swimmer. At the end, it looked like they touched at the same time but they gave first to the other swimmer. I think Keith was in total shock. I'm sure alot of emotions were running through his mind, shock, anger and disappointment. The things you learn about yourself coming in second!! He lost by less than a tenth of second but none the less, it was a loss. As we all have learned, losing only makes us stronger and wanting it more. Sure it hurts, but in the long run, we get over it and try harder. That's the lesson Keith has learned this summer! I'm positive, he will be back stronger than before and he probably will go to more practices :)

My week had started out fairly strong after taking Sunday off. Monday was boot camp, 6.5 mile run and 1 and 1/4 mile swim with a 450yd pull. My legs were tired from the 50k but not sore. Today, I was sore from boot camp but managed
8.5 miles on the trail and weights.