9: All Out Sprint
The starting horn sent eight of us off the blocks. My dive was perfect! Eight lengths, two hundred yards. The top two lead swimmers were out strong. I was not with them, but was solidly leading the rest of the pack. I hit my first flip strong and got a great push off. I watched the orange swimsuit of the guy next to me, his male outline rotating as he swam. He was one of the top two, and I knew if I could stay watching his suit, I was in striking distance as the race got long. Just beyond him was the red suit of his competition, the suits were side by side. On my other side was the head of the swimmer just behind me.
“Stay with orange, keep ahead of blue.” It was funny that I defined my competitors by the color of their suits. Flip two, no change in position. We jockeyed and battled thru the next three lengths. A rally by blue tried to throw me back one spot, but I held on and gained on orange as an added benefit. By length five blue had lost his stamina and was dropping off. He went too hard and screwed his race. He would fade to seventh place.
“Push!” I heard coach yell as I came out of my flip into the last 50. One more turn and then a hard kick for the last 24. I was sure I was in third, but actually was fourth behind a swimmer five lanes away. I could see that red had faded a bit, orange was still pushing. So was I. So was green, the guy I could not see. Last flip, strong ass push and I gave it my all. Head down, watch the line. No looks. “Swim right into the wall” repeated in my head. I was no longer watching orange, red or anyone else. It was me, all me. I hit the wall with my fingers. It was done! Red and orange were in, too. As was green. I had no idea what order. The remaining four came in one by one behind.
My final time was just a fraction off my best. It turned out Green won. Orange was just a tenth behind me and red was a tenth behind him. I finished second. Maybe I was better at swimming than I thought. My time for sure locked me into a Sunday final.
“You kicked my ass on that last 25,” Orange suit said to me. “You just took off.”
“Hey, thanks,” I replied breathless. My heart still pounding. He was cute, but I was too beat up to notice.
I climbed from the pool, my tight suit clinging to me. Everyone’s was. My confidence was at a high. I had another event before the meal break. I decided to stay in my race suit.
i reached down and adjusted my position. Arousal was taking over in the warm sun, or was it all the guys in tight suits.
——- to be continued.....
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