The Time is NOW!!

The wait is nearly over. The USMS Summer Nationals starts today. The distance swimmers are in the water warming up right now, getting ready to kick off the meet.

First, if you haven't been here before, I'm a father of a child with Autism and I'm competing in the 2012 US Masters Swimming Summer Nationals, and raising money for the Ozark Center For Autism. Go here for my intro blog. If you have not done so yet, please click on My Donation Page on the right to help rebuild the Autism Center that was completely destroyed by the Joplin tornado last year.

The nerves are really building. I do have great confidence that I have trained and prepared for this meet as well as I can. What I'm not confident about is how much I'll be affected by the stomach flu last week. Regardless, I just need to go out there and give it my best shot! If I do that, I will have to be pleased.

If you want to follow along the action, well if you are near Omaha, come on down to the Century Link Center. I think you will find plenty of open seats, no admission charge, and a very cool atmosphere that only a masters swim meet can provide. If you can't make it down, you can follow real time results, or even live streaming video. Here is where you find information on how to do that.

The main page for the meet is http://www.usms.org/comp/lcnats12/ There is info and links for everything, including 'real time' results, and live streaming video. The timeline is http://www.usms.org/comp/lcnats12/timeline.pdf . That is an estimated time line, the meet can run faster or slower by as much as a couple of hours by the end of the day.

My events and estimate start times are

Friday

Event #10 at 12:25

Event #14 at 3:40

Event #16 at 4:55

Saturday

Event #22 at 1:10

Event #24 at 2:35

Event #27 at 4:20

Event #30 at 5:55

Sunday

Event #33 at 10:30

Event #36 at 11:25

Event #44 at 4:20

If you are wondering how close the meet is running to the timeline, you can check the streaming video.

 

One more thing; previously I listed one of my goals, and provided you an opportunity to challenge me to reach them. My goal was make it onto the FINA Masters All Time Top 10 list, and I challenged you to make a pledge to donate if I reach those goals. Right now it pledges stand at $125 for one event on the list, and $50 for each additional event. It's not too late, just send me an email at tonyrezek@train4autism.org to let me know if you wish to pledge. I listed times I needed, and warned those times may change. So far the only guy that would be added to the current published list, will also be at my meet. So, I only need to beat the 9th place times on the list in the 50 breast at 30.51, the 100 breast at 1:08.17, and the 200 breast at 2:31.53. If I beat those times, I should end up back on the Top 10 list.