State Championships!

Is catching a cold a good way to taper for athletic competition? Are the side effects of ear-noise medications beneficial to swimmer performance? Can Terry still finish the 100 Freestyle in the same time he swam to earn his high school letter jacket?

Um, well...no, no, and no.

But was the Masters State Championship Swim Meet fun? And did the Foothills Masters Team kick butt? Why, yes and YES!

The meet was at a new location this year: the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center (VMAC) in Thornton, Colorado. It's a pretty nice facility, with continuous warmup and cooldown areas, and plenty of spectator seating:



First, the disappointing news: My longtime arch rival, the notorious Jeff Magouirk, completely crushed me in the win/loss talley, defeating me by a 7-3 margin in the 10 events we swam in common. The good news is that if you add up our total swim times for those 10 events, I was a few seconds faster...so I suppose there's a small consolation there. And I did come home with one blue ribbon within my age group, whereas he had none.

Still, getting beat 7-3 is (as Apollo Creed said) "very hard for a man of my intelligence to take." Amends must be made. The gauntlet remains thrown. Next time, he's going down!

There are many other things to say about the meet, but for now I'm going to keep this short. Becca Hlad (see photo above) totally obliterated the competition in the 200 backstroke, beating the entire field by multiple body lengths. Kim Clemens (pictured here) set PRs in each of his events, and took home his first ever swimming ribbons. Cliff Crozier (aka Mr. Enthusiasm) swam very well in all of his events, too (despite having to wear a less-than-optimal mesh suit on Sunday). And FMST newcomer Steve Inman made a triumphant comeback to Championship competition after several decades of retirement.

My teammates made the entire meet incredibly fun. So even when my body was refusing to respond and the fatigue was overwhelming (I could barely pull myself out of the water after my 200 free -- even though the time was almost workout-pace slow...ugh!), I realized that I was still having a blast! I know these meets take up almost all of the weekend; but I really think everyone should do it at least once a year. Now that it's over, I feel fantastic, and will be riding the endorphin high for several days to come. Seriously, folks, you should definitely plan on doing this meet with us next year.

You can watch me get my revenge!

In the meantime, enjoy the warmth of Springtime, and have a great day!