Life of Two Beat Friends: College CHPT 49

CHAPTER 50

“Well how did that feel?” Coach walked over behind our lane.

Henry was still plastered to the deck. Jeremy was leaning against the chair behind him. Chad was just lying on his back on the deck; focusing on breathing. I clung to the wall. It was the only thing I could focus on. My body was exploding with pain. I think Coach pushed us too far this time.

“Well since you are not answering, I’m assuming you four used all your energy. That is what I wanted. You all did exceptionally today. You should be proud of what you did today. All of your 500s were interesting. You all seemed to kill yourself in that race, but you all seemed to have some energy left over. Like you didn’t use up everything. So you needed another race to empty your tank.”

‘How did Coach know these things. I did have fuel left, but it was like an ounce. Something that only I could know.’

“Henry you did amazing in your 500. I had never seen you swim that way. I’m impressed. I want to work with you on using that speed increase for your future 500s. Now that I know you can do that; we will harness it. Even your 50 in that relay was promising. 23.65. That’s your best by far. Go cooldown.”

I didn’t know if Henry had been listening, but he shuffled himself over to the edge of the pool and fell in and began swimming.

“Jeremy. You as well did great on the 500. You may actually have a future as a 500 swimmer. You held consistent 58s. Which is impressive since you never swim that race, but that 50 was even more so amazing. 22.30. Do you now understand what it feels like to use up all your energy. This is how I want you to be after practices and races. I want this every single time. Go cooldown.”

Jeremy stood up and fell into the pool too. He looked more like he was drowning than cooling down.

“Chad. Your 500 was great for never having swum it before. But watching you race I think you thrive more at the 200 Freestyle. We are going to make that one of your top races this year. I want you to have a specialty that you thrive at. I think the 200 is going to be that for you. Your 50, 22.67, is impressive because I think that was your first 22 in practice. You have more distance capabilities than sprinting. But you will definitely be on this relay. To give you chances at sprinting. Now you go.”

Chad rolled from his back into the pool. He bellyflopped.

‘Ouch!’

“Ouch,” Chad called out before starting.

Now it was my turn.

“Well George. This is the first time I think that I’m happy a swimmer didn’t listen to my instructions. You had an interesting 500. You seemed to take it out too slow and comfortable. But when I saw your first spilt I was surprised to see a 53. You just looked to be relaxing. Until the fourteenth lap. When you began to straight arm. That was something I had never seen before. You pushed Henry to be a better swimmer. It was fantastic. It’s understandable that you just went. I would have like to see the race I had planned, but I was presently surprised by what you did instead. Your 50 was a 21.40. Very impressive for being as exhausted as you were. I was not expecting that speed. But another thing I was not expecting was for you four to be only half a second from the current record. That you four exhausted would have crushed the upperclassmen in this race. That is impressive. You made me a proud coach today. Go ahead and cool down. You deserve it.”

I didn’t respond to Coach. I had no emotion or response. I just left the wall. I was exhausted. I need to move. My limbs seemed invisible or detached. Gone. They were gone. But somehow I still swam.

I don’t know about the others. But I needed to cooldown until I could feel my limbs without wanting to tare them off and set them aside. No idea how long that was going to be…

…

Life of Two Best Friends: College CHPT 48

CHAPTER 49

I needed that cooldown. Finally my limbs were feeing like jello. Jello was better than fire. I searched for Henry. He must have only needed a short cooldown. I pulled myself up and out of the pool. ‘Ouch! That hurt.’ My shoulders did not like hoisting my body up. I walked back over to lane three and grabbed my towel. I was so glad that I was done with races. I didn’t know if I could do it again, today. They were on the last heat of 200 Freestyles done by the B and C strings.

Walking up to Coach I saw Henry, Jeremy, and Chad standing there talking to Coach. I don’t know how I knew, but I was not going to like this. “Hey Coach. Sorry about diving in too soon. You could blame it on habit. My body hears the long whistle and I get up on the blocks. What’s going on?” I already knew the answer. We were going to be doing another race.

“Don’t worry about the 500 race right now, George,” Coach waved me to stand next to Henry, “now that George is here, shall we begin?”

Hopefully it’s just another race; and not a workout. ‘I will protest! No I wouldn’t.’ “What are we beginning?”

“I want you four to do a relay. I think could be a great line up. And since you and Henry are so exhausted I’m curious to know what you can do with no energy. Now, go get behind the blocks. Jeremy is first, then Henry, then Chad, and lastly George. George chase yourself! Now go!”

We were walking away, “is Coach crazy? I can barely feel my body. How am I supposed to sprint now?” Henry said as he began to actively stretch.

I tried to swing my arms too, but I could only seem to do small pathetic circles. “You know Coach. He wants to see what we can do when we have nothing left. Strangely enough it is sometimes your best race. Come on Henry! We will be done after this. Let’s show Coach what we can do!” I was trying to pump Henry up, but also myself. I was hurting too. But Coach was expecting the impossible again. If we didn’t deliver we would be expected to try again. “Let’s get this done!” I started to jump. Waking up my body; ignoring the burning.

“Yeah. Let’s get this done in one shot. We can do this,” Jeremy jumped as well trying to get pumped.

“Yeah. I don’t want to have to do this over and over again,” Chad said walking to the blocks.

“Tweet tweet tweet!”

“Let’s do this,” Jeremy climbed the block.

‘Get it done Jeremy!’ The three of us crouched around the block.

“Take your mark…BEEP!”

Jeremy left!

“Go Jeremy!” I was yelling. I never yell. I usually conserve my energy. But not this time. My teammates needed encouragement. They needed more; so I was giving them more. Jeremy touched the wall and Henry took off. I helped pull Jeremy up and out of the pool. Henry was flying. At least it seemed like he was flying. The yelling at the other end of the pool was so loud it made no sense for me to continue to yell. You couldn’t hear anything but them.

‘Come on Henry!’ Screw it. I was going to yell for them. They deserved it. “Go Henry! Go!” He touched and Chad was gone. I too pulled Henry out of the pool. He just crumpled to the deck once he was clear. I was next. I needed to move. I jumped. I moved. I was ready. Burning or not, I was going to finish this. ‘Chase George. Chase your well rested self. Chase the one that thinks they will win. Chase!’

I climbed the blocks. Chad was coming. He was almost here. Soon it was me. I could see myself in pool. Leisurely swimming away. Not trying at all. ‘Catch him, George!’ Timothy touched the wall and I dove in.

…