Swim Meet at the Ridge

People said we were daft to hold a swim meet on the same day as the Super Bowl. After all, one is the Greatest Sports Event of the Year, and the other is just a football game. Har har. But seriously, we weren't sure anyone would take time away from preparing their Indy-themed nacho plates and setting up the Tivo to record the beer commercials long enough to come to the pool for a little friendly competition.

Maybe it was the prospect of a good lunch that brought them out, but they did indeed come. We had the highest turnout ever for a Masters Meet at the Ridge, and as far as I could tell, everyone had a great time. (Of course, I didn't have my glasses on, so I couldn't really see very much.)

Steve Bernard took a bunch of photos with his fancy camera, so when he gets the files to me, I'll post some of them...which will amaze you and motivate you to attend the next one of our meets. In the meantime, I'll just have to give you a verbal description.

But come to think of it, I can't really do that very well, either. I swam almost every event, and since there were only one or two heats of each, I spent most of my time in the water. I actually got a very good workout, even though didn't swim any race with any particular speed. My legs were a little stiff from running steps the day before, and my enthusiasm for sprinting is minimal even on the days my legs are fully springy and bouncy. Plus, the first event was the 200 butterfly...and surviving that ordeal is a universally accepted valid excuse for stinking up the joint in any events that follow. But I was exhausted by the end of the meet, so I guess I must've worked something hard.

There were some excellent swims by other folks, though, and I was impressed and pleased with the level of effort I saw from both our team and the visiting Dawgs. I even saw a few smiles and high fives, and the family members in attendance were cheering with good enthusiasm. It was an enjoyable meet; in fact, one woman commented that it was the most fun she had EVER had at a swim meet!

In keeping with tradition, we went down the waterslide afterwards, and then adjourned to the party room for a delicious pot luck lunch. There was a lot of laughter, an abundance of food, and even some entertainment from the younger participants. There's no doubt in my mind: Swimmers are more fun to hang out with than any other kinds of people -- even politicians and druids. (And please spare me your letters of protest. I'll gladly grant you the right to include Swedish Bikini Teams among the definition of "swimmers", OK? OK.)

As for the Super Bowl, well, I really don't care one way or the other. And Monday, it's back to work, where I'll be pulled off my enjoyable video work and assigned to another soul-crushing proposal. I'll apologize in advance for the possibility that proposal agony may keep me from writing for a while. But the fact is that such work drains me of any excess energy that would allow me to populate these pages. I've often thought that I should hire Sally Struthers to make some commercials about my indenture to these blighted assignments so that people would donate to my financial independence fund and free me from the requirements of drudgery and overtime. After all, I'm a modern kind of a guy -- I'm sure as heck not going to take any personal responsibility for my own situation. Anyway, the point is that my blogging may suffer for the next couple of weeks. (As opposed to YOU suffering from reading it. Ha! I crack myself up.) Thank you for your patience and continued patronage. I really do appreciate it. For now, please consider attending our next swim meet...and in the meantime, have a great week!