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I may not be an Olympian, but I play one in my head

Right now I am watching the Olympics, as I have done late every night since Friday. I don't know about you, but my favorite sports are, in no particular order, swimming, diving, gymnastics, beach volleyball, and some track and field events.

I am a pretty good swimmer. I may not be the most graceful (my butterfly is more like the baboon), but I have endurance and a fair amount of speed. I am not even ashamed to admit that after a particularly good day of swimming last year, I actually looked up some Olympic records to see if I came close. Spoiler alert: I did not.

Unfortunately, that is about as athletic as I get.

I can dive the most basic dive; everything else scares me (not that too many pools in this sue-happy era have diving boards). But seeing the twists and turns these divers do leaves me almost breathless. In a good way.

I am absolutely lousy at gymnastics. I cannot do a cartwheel, handstand, or split, which makes what these gymnasts do all the more amazing to me. Seriously, how do these girls flip in the air and somehow still manage to land on the balance beam?! I am too scared to even attempt a flip while on a trampoline.

I really like volleyball, but I am pretty bad at that as well. J and I often try to volley the ball at the pool, but we rarely get it going more than once back and forth. Most of the time that does not even happen.

The only sport I did in high school was track. I managed to win a heat, maybe two, when I ran in various events (400 meter my freshmen year and sprints my senior year), but that was it. Still, I really liked it and wish the musical had not prevented me from doing it all four years (or an entire season, for that matter). Fortunately for me everyone made the team. Otherwise, I may have gone through my school life without having been on a team. Phew.

In my earlier adulthood, I ran quite a few 5ks, back when not as many women ran, and I won or placed in my age group about a half dozen times. I guess those were my Olympics.

I am not exactly picturing myself in these Olympics (and now that J is almost 9, she no longer says "I want to be the Olympics, as she did four years ago; not that she remembers that either). But watching these games allows me to think about positive things, like determination, perseverance, dedication, physical fitness, teamwork, camaraderie, and patriotism. With all that is going on in the world, so much of it negative/bad, this is what I need.

Comments

Carpetbagger said…
I threw the discus and shot put in high school. I was a little above average. Not big enough to be exceptional.

The worst part was sitting through those monotonous track meets. I'd throw three times in each even. Another three if I made the finals. Then I was done. Ah, the days before iPods and Smart Phones. We just learned to be bored.
Unknown said…
Faith,
I have a great video of you doing gymnastics with Brody at 11PM over Thanksgiving in mom's living room. I could post that on this blog if you like LOL! I love the Olympics too, mom and I have been watching. I can't get over the HD video and still photos just amazing (the photog in me) how amazing it would be there to see them in London.
Facie said…
Bagger: I don't really remember all that sitting around. Maybe I was good at being bored back then?!

Ann: Hahaha. Yeah, it is pretty cool. I saw some awesome still swimming photos somewhere.

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