I'm (sorta) the STAR of a documentary!

Yea right...

I arrived at practice this evening to see the post grad "elite" team back together in it's entirety.  The remaining 4 swimmers returned from the Florida keys after a over a month in that terrible place (kidding of course).  After a few cracks at how pasty white I was compared to everybody else, the regular banter resumed.  It was good to have the whole team back together.  One new addition to the pool deck was a videographer.  I noticed him buzzing around the deck getting what I thought was general footage of the team.  After the workout I introduced myself while checking out his professional video equipment.  He explained he was doing a documentary of one of the swimmers for broadcast in Ireland before the Olympics.  I had a great conversation about professional photo, video and sound equipment and the plans for the documentary.  It turns out this videographer was documenting 6 sport diciplines, I forgot the whole list of sports but thought it was great they made the effort to include swimming!  I did an ab workout after practice, alone in the dryland area.  While reflecting on the conversation about the documentary, I remember thinking how cool it was that I knew this specific athlete and what he goes through to prepare for the Olympics.  Moments later, I realized that not only did I know what this athlete goes through, I was living the same life.  It's a fact that I've come to grasp only recently.  Sometimes I take for granted the level of training I endure on a daily basis.  This is not to insinuate I'm at the exact same level as these athletes who are GOING to the Olympic Games, the times clearly show I'm not equal.  Yet, I swim the exact same sets, occasionally at the same times as the swimmers who will be swimming in London in 2012.  That's just crazy to think about.  I'm actually training like an Olympian.  I'm going to write another post on that topic specifically, mostly focusing on everything I've seen and learned about swimming in the last 15 years.  From swimming in college, swimming 4 years as part of one college team, training alone, then swimming with another college team along with potential Olympians, I've gained a lot of knowledge of top tier swimming.

Anyway, after practice I met up with the other post grads at a team dinner in a local restaurant.  I really enjoy being part of a small team like this.  The group this evening was only 6 of the guys but after training alone for so long I've come to enjoy the commrodery and laughs we share on a daily basis.  The videographer was there capturing some of the jokes and smiles as we told stories about training.  The athlete whom the documentary is being filmed introduced the team one by one for the camera and I had my 5 seconds of fame.  Lets face it, I doubt it will get on TV but it was still fun.  It was a great night out.  Glad to have the team back!