Thank God for attrition. There were 3 scratches in the final heat of the 200 breast, which allowed me to squeak into the top ten with a 9th place.  I'll take it any way I can get it.  The 200 was the first event of the day. I woke up at 6 like every other day and ate my normal breakfast and headed to the pool, getting there at the end of the warmup period. Unfortunately, breakfast didn't agree with me this morning and my stomach was upset for a few hours. I delayed getting in for a warmup as long as I could, got in 1500 meters and strolled over to my gear. On the way I heard that they were already on heat 22 and I was in 29. Yikes! I was still wearing my drag suit, so I quickly grabbed a towel and meet suit and pulled it on (not an easy thing to do with a body suit when you're still wet). I made it over to the marshalling area with just one heat to spare before I was in the final on deck chair. That's not the way I planned it.

This was an odd race. I knew that Jon Smiley next to me was not having a good meet and expected him to go a 2:52 or higher, so I knew I had to beat him to have a chance at a good time. Since I was in lane 2, all I could see was Jon in lane 3 and the guy in lane 1.  I took it out easy and was maybe a half body length behind Jon at the 50. It felt too slow, so I picked it up on the second lap and pulled even with Jon at the turn. I then tried to pick it up more on the third lap in order to maintain the pace. About halfway down the pool I really started to tire. That's not good, but I did finish the lap almost a full body length ahead of Jon.  I had nothing left on the last lap. The piano was creeping up my legs and onto my back. I could feel Jon's presence in the next lane pulling up on me. Unlike the 100 the other day, I was able to adjust my stroke to keep myself from sinking further and further. I was still slowing down horribly, but I could at least keep the stroke together a little better. I spent the last 10 meters or so planning the finish and then I really nailed the touch with a good stretch. I beat Jon by 0.01 seconds. Pay attention in practice - when Lorie says to work your finish, know that it may come in handy some day in a real meet.

I was really surprised at the time. It felt like I was doing around a 2:53, but it turned out to be a 2:50 with a horrible last lap split. I wish I had known that my first three splits were as good as they were, because I believe I could have gone faster on the last lap if I had known that the time wasn't as bad as I thought it was. I guess that's another lesson learned - never give up because you think you're not doing well. You won't know for sure until you touch and look at the clock.

Randy Magin, who has been swimming at GVP with the RAMS for the summer, swam the 100 back today. He was in the same heat with Gary Hall Sr., who broke the world record and won the event. Randy wanted to be able to say that he beat Gary into the water for the start, but Gary was the first one in the water before the start.  Randy's time was 2.5 seconds off his entry time, so I don't think he was too happy with it. He said that one of his relays yesterday got 9th place and he did his best 50 back split leading off, so he was happy with that. He has the 50 back tomorrow morning.

Neil has the 400 free tomorrow, and that concludes the pool swimming portion of the meet. I'm done in the pool with the open water swim on Friday and the Alcatraz swim on Saturday. Both will be recreational swims for me - I'm not swimming either to compete.