Jack and I got to the pool earlier yesterday, during the open warmup period before the meet. It was a cold morning with heavy clouds all morning. It was only about 60-65 degrees all morning until the clouds burned off by around noon. I was able to finally get in a warmup where I could swim a couple hundred meters straight without running into people. We still warmed up in the short course pool, and there were only 4 or 5 people per lane. 

Jack swam the first event of the day, the 50 free. This event ran about an hour and a half longer than planned. They had planned on a 10 second interval between heats, but they ended up waiting until everyone got to the sides of the pool before starting the next heat, which took much longer than 10 seconds for most heats.  I guess the concern is that many of the swimmers would hit the pads and trip them while swimming to the side of the pool, so they had to wait for that to finish before starting the next heat. Jack ended up taking 13th in his age group, coming in about 1.5 seconds over his seed time. He felt like he just couldn't get going in the race.

Betty Dunn swam the 200 IM next and came in 5th. Her time was a little off, but she wasn't pushing for this event anyway - it was her weekest event going into the meet. She wore an older suit for this swim and just swam it as a 5th event.  I got some pictures of this swim that I'll post in the photo galleries.

I swam the 200 IM next.  My plan was to take it out easy in the fly and back and really work the breast and free.  Jack said I was last (10th) in my heat after the fly and after the back, moved up to 6th after the breast and 4th at the finish.  I felt good in the breast and okay in the free. I probably took it a bit too easy in the fly and back since my fly split was the 61st fastest in my age group and breast was 11th. The time was a second slower than last year's (which was also slow), but I can live with that. At least the race felt pretty good.

Betty had the 100 fly next. She came in 4th in her age group with a time that was a bit off her entry time, but she looked strong the whole way. I got a picture of her near the end of the race posted in the galleries.

Jack and I swam the 50 breast next. This was Jack's best shot at cracking the top ten, but he ended up 14th. He had a great start and was leading the pack at the 15 meter mark. Unfortunately, as the race went on everyone else picked it up while Jack faded. His 47.02 was 4.5 seconds off his seed time.  He said it just didn't feel good the whole way and couldn't get into a good rhythm.  My start was weak on this race. I didn't get off the block clean and hit the water awkwardly. Jack said it was the first time he's seen me come up last on a breast start instead of first or second.  The swim felt good otherwise and I was just 0.3 seconds off last year's time, so that could easily have all been from the bad start. I ended up 22nd, right around where I was seeded. Kind of odd for me to place better in the 50 than in the 100.

We got out of the pool area at near 6 PM after the meet timeline had it projected as ending at 3. I took Jack back to the hotel and came back for the Taste of California social (Jack didn't sign up for this).  They had local restaurants and caterers with tables set up around the perimiter of the area and you could get little bite-sized samples of food from each place. I did several laps in order to get a full meal!  You got a glass as you came into the tent and could get wine or beer. When I went up to the wine guy, he poured a small splash in my glass. I looked at him and said you've got to be kidding. He poured a little more, but it was still just a few sips.  I then grabbed a second glass and went to the beer table and asked for one dark and one light. Good strategy - didn't have to spend all my time standing in lines.

I got back to the hotel at around nine and laid down on the bed briefly and the next thing I knew it was 12:30. Swimming two events just wiped me out, even if they were shorter events.  Today is relay day, so I'm off. I have to do laundry, take Jack to the airport, watch a water polo game and then warm up today, so I won't be just lounging around in from of the TV all day.