Summer Swim Season Begins! Freeze or Fry in Dearborn

Swim meets are always fun and challenging, but when it's summer, you really don't tend to factor in the possibility that GETTING THERE will be the biggest challenge! Sure, in the winter, with all the snow and ice you leave lots of extra time assuming you will have to drive slower. But perhaps we chalk this one up to naivete: EVERYONE knows that Michigan isn't nicknamed "the orange barrel state" for nothing.

We left with plenty of time to drive the two hours to Dearborn -- but we lost all of our cushion and then some on one of Michigan's great highways -- covered in orange construction barrels. The freeway was down to one lane and moving at about 5 miles an hour for 10 miles. I made a couple of calls to try to reach one of the coaches -- but it turned out she was 20 minutes behind me! I finally managed to reach some of the other swim parents who got Lexy checked in within the allotted time. By the time we got there, though, the meet was already behind and they had moved the check-in back 45 minutes. So, we would have made it, but had no way of knowing the times had shifted.

The summer Barracuda meets are different from the winter meets and are called "long course" for good reason. The winter meets are held indoors at 25 yard pools. The long course pools are Olympic length, or 50 meters. This means you can't really take a 25 or a 50-yard time and just submit. You actually have to do MATH to convert the times. As most people who know me will attest, I would much rather check my spelling than do the math. But, you just can't fudge the times. Thank goodness for calculators. I'm that bad.

In any case, Lexy got warmed up and got ready to swim her first event, the 100 Freestyle for the 10 and under age group. There were 46 swimmers signed up to swim, all aged 8, 9 and 10. Lexy placed 8th in this event with a 1:34.26, very respectable, considering the difficulty and the age group.

Later, we went over to "The Henry Ford" where they have an IMAX theater, to see "Kung Fu Panda." WE LOVED IT!! Two bamboo shoots UP! Go see it and have fun!

Saturday morning Lexy swam two events, both in the 8 & under range: the 50 back and the 50 Free. She placed 6th in the 50 Back with a 55.51 (Keep Your Head Back KIDDO!) and she placed FIRST in the 50 Free, taking almost two seconds off her time --41.59! Awesome!

Later that afternoon, some thunderstorms rolled through, but the older kids got to finish their events later.

Sunday morning, Lexy was scheduled for two events: the 50 Breaststroke and the 50 Butterfly. She had posted 1:12.68 last summer for the 50 Breast, but clobbered that time today with at 59.92! She came in 5th overall for that event.

Finally, the 50 Butterfly. Lexy did not have a previously posted time, so she swam with other kids who were in the same category. Lexy took an early lead and was about 5 lengths ahead of the other kids in the field, finishing with 54.72. The best posted time for the event was 51.87, so Lexy was right in there with the best for this competition. The only bothersome thing was that, after she got out, she looked me right in the eye and said, "I didn't swim as fast as I could have." Why, whatever do you mean, my sweet angel???

Lexy said that when she surveyed the field and saw how far out front she was, she just figured she was going to win and stopped competing. . . heavy sigh.

We'll see about next week, now won't we??