let the season begin...

Today was the season opener for Bryant University Men's Swim Team. We swam @ NJIT, a school near Rutgers in Newark, NJ, 4 hours away from Bryant. The meet went well, they have a very weak swim program, still transitioning their sports programs to the Dvision I level just like Bryant. We were the superior team though, and we won every event of the meet. I swam particularly well in the 1,000 yd free, and realized that although the event is long and painful, I think it is for me.

As I was swimming the 1,000, trying to chase down my teammate Matt Derwin, I realized I kind of liked the pain. From my triathlon experiences all summer, I have grown used to pushing through the pain, letting my body just continue to push even though my mind feels like it can't tolerate anymore. I swam a strong race, actually passed my teammate out, only to have him have a stronger finish then me and win the race. I finished in second though, so we took the 1-2 finish. I reflected on the start of my season last year, in which I swam the same event, almost an entire minute slower!I have come a long way, through hard work, through dedication, and through sacrifice. I also realize that this is far from the end, this is truly the beginning. If I am just starting the season almost as fast as I ended last year, I have so much opportunity knocking on my door. Our entire team does. We have worked hard for the 8 weeks of preseason, and it truly paid off today. It is one of the best feelings in the world to continuously work hard and then have it all pay off and end in great success. We will continue to work, continue to push through the pain, and I really think this season will be great.

The sky is the limit for what our team can accomplish. And for myself, I'm not aspiring to get there, for there are footsteps on the moon. I have what it takes to be great, I just need to continue to get better every single day. I have realized during preseason that to get better, like the greatest athletes alive, you can't just be able to get up and perform at your best when you are feeling good. Anyone and everyone should be able to do that. Rather, to be the best, to do your best on a daily basis, you need to be able to get up and push yourself to the point of exhaustion when you are down, not up, and when you feel like crap from a physical standpoint and feel like you can't go hard anymore. That is when you need to get mentally strong, and in turn you will become physically stronger at the end of the day. My goal for this season is to continue to work harder in that aspect, to get up on a daily basis and get better every single day. I figure, if I do that, everything will follow behind, and this swim season I will put up times I never imagined. So yeah, the sky isn't the limit, and reaching the moon is just a lame cliche piece of figurative speach...So I'm not going for that cliche, instead, I'm going to do it 4 the GLORY...

Lock in,
Brendan