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.

…

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.

…