Braden's first "out of town" swim meet was this weekend. Saturday morning Braden and I woke up and were on the interstate by 7:00 a.m. It seemed earlier than it was because it was really, really dark. When did it get so dark so early? Has it really been so long since I was awake by 7:00??

We've shied away from travel meets in the past because, well... honestly, Braden's just not fast enough to be competitive. We really haven't wanted to drive an hour or two to watch him come in 17th.

Now lest you think I'm sounding callous and un-motherly, let me elaborate. Braden has been swimming for about 18 months, and in that time he's made great strides. In his first lesson he could not swim one full lap freestyle. After months of practice (he now swims 7.5 hours per week) he can swim all four strokes legally. When he swims, he looks like he's doing everything right, but he's just. so. slow.

AquaSnail.

He works so hard and hardly moves. His coach says that when his technique improves, he'll improve as well. So we're hanging on to that theory with all our hearts.
Braden's swim team requires him to swim a certain percentage of meets every year, and some of them have to be out of town. So this weekend we hurtled down the dark highway in a rainstorm to the meet.

Braden swam the 50 m. backstroke, the 100 m. Individual Medley, and the final leg of a 200m Relay. It's a tough division, because he swims with the 11-12 year-olds, and he's only been 11 for three weeks. Some of those 12 year olds are taller than me!

The 50 m. backstroke was his first race. I think he came in 17th overall, but the exciting thing was that he shaved nearly 10 seconds off his best time! W00-hoo! HUGE improvement there!















In his second event, the 100 m. IM, his big goal was not to be disqualified. He's never swum the butterfly in competition before, and didn't even swim the stroke legally until last week! Thankfully, he not only met his goal, but he won his heat as well because......wait for it...... his opponent was disqualified. We've no idea how he placed overall, but he had so much fun that I don't think he cares.