My First Masters Swim Meet of the 2015 Season

My legs hurt.

You’d think that after swimming, my shoulders and arms would be sore, but that isn’t the case. It’s my legs and back that are throbbing.

In a good way, of course.

On Sunday, three of my teammates and I competed in the first masters swim meet of the season at the Upper Main Line YMCA masters meet in Paoli, PA.

Here are the events I swam:

• 25 free (!) (masters swimmers don’t usually get to compete in 25s)
• 100 free
• 100 fly (which was literally 2 heats—about 5 minutes—after my 100 free)
• 200 free
• 25 fly
• 50 free

Considering how little I’ve been in the pool—about 3,000 yards twice a week—I did pretty well, and certainly better than I expected. No best times or anything earth-shattering, but I brought home three golds and three silvers—or, I mean, three little blue ribbons and three red ribbons that I will place in the shoebox with my other masters ribbons.

The important thing is that it was fun. And that’s what I like best about competing as an adult: I feel no pressure to do anything significant other than finish my events and enjoy the process.