Personal Narrative: The Collapse At The Swimming Pool

The scent of chlorine was overwhelming as I entered through the terrifying large doors. The last couple months have been nothing short of torture. The endless practices, drylands that made muscles scream, and never getting enough air into ones lungs. Pushing oneself to every limit possible and training until it feels like the swimmer is going to collapse is what makes an athlete. Defying all the odds and coming up on top is what makes someone great. Swimming is the kind of sport that pushes the swimmer to their breaking point at every practice, but never quite reaching it. The type of sport where one leaves it all in the pool, and come out feeling improved having accomplished something. The kind of sport that not only tests physical ability and strength, but also mental strength. …show more content…
The cold, endless pool with chlorinated water that made swimmers skin burn. The hard practices that had ones lungs screaming for air and limbs crying for rest. Despite all of these things, going in to the pool and working as hard as I possibly could, was something that made me feel extreme. Going through the excruciating pain to finish to the wall was a daily occurrence. Making it through the practice was the only thing that would be on my mind. Knowing that after that practice, I would come out as a better swimmer than I was before, is what got me through all of the endless practices. The friends I was surrounded by that were experiencing the same amount of physical and mental pain that I was, helped me through each and every practice. Even on my best days, I would still feel miserable in the pool. My overworked body would have to fight to be able to keep up with the nearly impossible intervals. But I knew that it would all be worth it, swimming great in my big meet Holiday Classic would make all the pain I endured