Life of Two Best Friends:College CHPT 47

CHAPTER 48

I was ready, but oh great, “I need a lap counter.”

“Already got that covered, George!”

The girl from before. I seriously need to learn her name again. “Thanks! Lane 3.”

“Yep!” She yelled as she headed towards the other side of the pool.

As I stretched, I saw her stand behind lane 3. But stayed out of the way of the current lap counter. I definitely need to learn her name to thank her properly. I focused back to active stretching. I was actually excited for this race. I normally don’t swim this event. Because I suck at it, but also the 50 Freestyle is just before this, and normally I put everything into that race. So turning around to do distance would be like asking to fall unconscious again.

‘Focus George. You are getting distracted. Focus. Henry. Chase down Henry. Twenty laps.’ I had never seen Henry swim this race. But I knew he loved distance; he never seemed tired after those kinds of sets. As Coach said, he will hold a great pace. Which means this is a sprint to him. So to catch him I’m going to have to find a new gear in my wheelhouse of speed. But I can beat him on his turns. My streamlines have gotten stronger with all my breath control sets. ‘You can do this George. You have to do this. Coach is watching. Get this done!’

“Heat 4. Tweet tweet tweet!”

‘That’s me.’ I step up to the blocks.

“Take your mark.”

‘Chase him down!’

“Beep!”

I was off!

…

Turn. ‘Go!’ I felt like I was flying! Nothing was going to stop me. Turn! ‘Go!’ I had forgotten to tell my lap counter the signals, but I didn’t need them. In the corner of my eye I could see Henry’s steady bubbles from his kicking. I needed to catch him. I had to catch him. Coach was expecting me to do so. I had to! Turn! I knew my body was probably dying, but I was ignoring everything. Pain was not going to be my stumbling block today. ‘Catch him, George!’ Turn. Only six laps left. I needed to find that new gear, but I seemed stuck. I couldn’t catch Henry. He was within reach but still out of my reach. ‘Come on George! Get there!’ Turn. Henry was beginning to pull away. ‘No…’

Henry continued to pull away. This is what Coach meant. That Henry would stay strong even at the end. His pace would not falter. That he was trained for this. Only four laps to go. ‘Do it George. Straighten them. If you die, then die trying something new!’ I straightened my arms. I used my technique I use for sprints. Crazily at the end of this grueling 500, but I was going to give it all I got!

Turn. Two laps left. ‘Get it done, George!’ Henry’s kick came back into view. ‘I can do this! Go, George!’ Turn. ‘Streamline! Keep it strong! Up! Pull! Pull! Keep that kick going. Don’t stop the kick!’ I could see Henry’s arms. I’m getting closer. ‘Catch him!’ Four, three, two, …one. ‘Finished!’ Once my hand hit the wall my body exploded with pain. Every inch of my skin was on fire. I was exhausted, but I didn’t feel like I would pass out. There’s no way I conserved energy, but I wasn’t completely dead. So I must have, somehow. I looked to Henry. He too was breathing hard. But he looked more exhausted than I was.

He looked at me and swam over to shake my hand. “Nice race. You made me swim faster than I ever had! Knowing you were chasing me down gave me an edge. I’m guessing that’s why Coach did this. Not to just help you, but to get me out of my groove. Did Coach tell you to ignore the whole ‘I’ll be a 50 ahead of you’, and that’s why you dove in at the beginning and didn’t wait?”

“What? What do you mean?”

We pulled ourselves up out of the pool and walked over to the cooldown pool.

“You were supposed to wait until after my first 50 to start, but you dove in at the same time. So I assumed Coach wanted me to kickstart my speed. That I was still expected to beat you. I panicked, but then I just did my normal plan, but just starting out at seventy percent and building. That last one hundred was brutal. I didn’t know if I could stay ahead of you. You seemed to be flying at the end. What did you do different?”

“You did start to pull away. I wasn’t able to find a different speed, so instead I changed up my technique. I started my straight arm pull and I’m feeling it now,” as I rubbed my shoulder I could feel it burning. “I didn’t realize I dove in too early. I guess it’s just habit. Hopefully Coach is not too angry at me for not following his plan.”

“Don’t worry about it. If he gets mad I’ll tell him it was great for me. I don’t think I would have swam that well unless you had been there the whole time. Again thanks George.” Henry jumped into the cooldown pool.

I stood there a moment longer. Glad I was a help to him. But I completely forgot to look at places. Did I win or not? Was Coach going to be doubly disappointed? I pulled my goggles back on. Time for a long one thousand cooldown. “I’ll find out the results later. Let’s get this done.” I jumped into the pool. My arms were burning. I felt almost numb since my limbs hurt so much. But I pushed through the pain, or later would be unbearable.

…