We're kind of a big deal.

Tomorrow I'm going to Florida!  But probably the most important part is that on Tuesday I'm swimming my race.  For real.  Recently they've put up the psych sheet for the meet, and my relay is seeded 73rd (under Central Branch YMCA) out of 91 teams.  Not too bad, not great, but I really wasn't expecting that much.  But the crazy thing about this meet is how close everybody's time are.  There is one team seeded at 1:52.07, and we have a 1:52.06.  And if we were to drop two full seconds we would go from getting 73rd place to getting 26th, and the top 24 teams swim in finals later that night.  It's a bit of a long shot for us but hey, at least we are swimming in it at all.

There are some really cool things about this meet, apart from the fact that it is in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  First, Peter Vanderkaay, gold medal winner in the 4 by 200 meter free relay in both Athens and Beijing.  Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, and Klete Keller swam on the relay with him in both of these winning races.  He's basically a pretty big deal.  And he's talking to all the athletes on the opening night of the meet (tomorrow night!).

Second, it is held at the Hall of Fame Pool in Ft. Lauderdale.  And this pool is outdoors.  Being from Iowa I do not do a lot of competitive swimming outdoors since you would freeze to death during most parts of the year, but I think it is going to be really cool.  Basically, when the pool is set to be short course (25 yards) this pool has a ridiculous amount of lanes.  And since the meet is so huge (over 200 entries in some events) the stands are going to be packed for much of the meet.  The picture to the left was taken at the YMCA National Swim Meet in 2009, so it's probably going to be crazy!  I can only guess how loud it's going to be, which will probably help us to get really excited for our race and swim a fast time.  We definitely have time to drop, and if we could do it at this meet and move up a few places that would be great.

Third, since it is the International Swimming Hall of Fame there are undoubtedly going to be some really rare and important swimming artifacts in the museum by the pool.  Yeah, it will probably be really crowded, but it's really convenient that we are so close by, and we may as well check out what there is inside.  Probably a lot of things related to Michael Phelps, which is always good.  But what I'm really hoping for is some Ryan Lochte souvenirs.  He's my boy and I would love a poster or something equally cool.  We'll see.

Fourth, I'm going to be swimming with some of the fastest high school level swimmers in the nation.  Some of the people at this meet are crazy fast and I'm excited to see someone swim that fast in person.  Iowa really isn't a powerhouse for swimming, we're pretty slow compared to most other states, so fast by my standards is probably pretty slow by other peoples.  For one, only five people from Iowa even qualified to swim at this meet at all, and the only four who ended up going are all on my relay.  And we are seeded 73rd.  So the other states must be picking up the slack because apparently Iowa isn't exactly holding it's ground at this meet.  And I don't think anyone from Iowa has gone, at least in the past few years.  So my coach is pretty excited about that.  We're kind of a big deal.  And yes, I know that sounds cocky, but clearly I'm not trying to be since I'm about to get seriously humbled at this meet.  We've made it through this season so far without losing this race once, and I don't exactly think that streak is going to continue into the next few days, unless we drop twelve seconds.  So I guess really, we're kind of a big deal (for Iowa).

Lastly, where this pool sits in the city of Ft. Lauderdale is incredible.  It sits in the middle of a strip of land, surrounded pretty closely by the ocean on both sides.  It looks like it is a really beautiful facility, and it will probably be a whole new swimming experience for all four of us.  We're usually stuck inside at the crusty YMCA in super hot water.  I think this will be good for us.

This meet is sure to be exciting, no matter how we do.  Obviously we're going to do our best, we have goals for time drops that probably would be insignificant to almost any reader, so I'm not going to bore you with them, but I think we can pull out a pretty fast time.  Maybe even win, maybe.  Haven't you heard?  We're kind of a big deal.