Swim Meets, Travels, and Birthdays

It has been a long time since I've sat down at my computer (or any computer, for that matter) and composed a post. Well, here I am, late in the evening on my 25th Birthday, finally finding some time to dance my fingers across the keyboard.
My last post was immediately following my birthday celebrating with my friends out in COS...so it is quite funny that this post is immediately following a fun family celebration in Florida. My parents and I just enjoyed a relaxing BBQ dinner at our friend's home on the lake (John, the father of the family shares the same birthday as I...so it was a double celebration:)
Also, since my last post, a lot of exciting events have occurred. The easiest way to get through them would be in semi-list format:
I flew out of COS early Wednesday morning and arrived in Birmingham, Alabama that afternoon. I was picked up at the airport by a very nice triathlete family in the area and they shuttled me down to Tuscaloosa. I also met up with Matt and he went over the weekend tri-youth camp schedule with me.
Wednesday evening I checked into my parent's hotel room and got a ride to the SEC meet with the Norton's (another Daytona Beach Swimming/Gators family). We watched/cheered for the two relay events that night and then had a yummy Panera dinner. My parents rolled into town that evening and I rented a cot from the hotel to stay in their room.
Thursday morning dawned with nothing but rain and rain and more cold rain. Cycling was out of the question but I did manage to sneak (actually, I got permission from the head meet official:) into the 'Bama pool between sessions and do a fun swim practice with my new friend (former Olympic Swimmer and current Vandy swim coach) Ashley Whitney.
As for the SEC swim meet on Thursday, Dustin bombed the 200IM and didn't make finals but the Gators finished out the Finals in first place for the Men and Women!
Friday morning greeted us with better weather and Dad and I drove down to the Olympic Trials race course and rode the race loop 4 times...with a few extra trips up the big hill to get a good feel for what I'm going to be racing! I even motivated to pull on my sneaker and run the race course twice...so now I know that I can manage half the race:)
Friday's SEC meet was a huge success for Dustin...he swam an amazing 400IM...3 second drop in his best time...seeded second for finals...6th fastest time in the country at the time...fast enough to qualify for NCAA's!!!! In the finals session, he swam an even faster time, and finished in 7th place with 5 other Gator teammates in the event!
I had to miss the evening session because I started my commitment with the youth and collegiate triathlon camps by speaking to them about my experiences and answering all sorts of questions.
On Saturday morning I joined the youth/juniors at the 'Bama Rec Center pool to encourage and assist during their swim/bike brick workout...caught a ride down to the race site to work with the college kids on their transitions...went back with the juniors for their bike-fit session and then said "Adios" to everyone as I headed over to watch more of the SEC meet.
Dustin swam a B-E-A-utiful 1650/Mile on Saturday afternoon. He chopped off 12 seconds from his previous best time and easily made the 'B' time standard for NCAA's so that he can (oh joy) swim it again in a month! NCAA's for the men are in Seattle, Washington...and I will NOT be attending:)
Here is where I made the one mistake of my whole multi-city trip...I chose NOT to ride home with my parents on Saturday night. I chose to stay and watch the Gators finish the meet (so close to beating Auburn) and then eat dinner with the Gator athletes and family. It's tradition that all the family and friends join the swimmers after the meet for a fun and celebration dinner...well, thanks to a screwed-up reservation, we were completely unable to even dine in the same restaurant as our athletes (imagine how PO'ed some of the parents were!) so I just went back to the hotel and slept.
The bad decision continues because as I was getting a ride to the airport at 7:30am (5 hours before my flight departed), my parents were waking up at home and getting on with their day of work and life. I spent the ENTIRE day traveling from Tuscaloosa, to Birmingham, to Washington DC, to Orlando and finally (thanks to my Dad for picking me up) back to DeLand! Ridiculous! Next time, I will actually look at the time schedule of my flights before deciding not to drive!
Well, I've had a fantastic Monday so I can get over my miserable Sunday of traveling. I've worked on my new Blue bike with my Dad all morning...we went for a three hour (windy) ride in the Florida sunshine...I had a great swim practice (thanks to Coach Steve)...and the day finished off with a co-Birthday celebration!
I am officially 1/4 of a century, 2.5 decades, 25 years, 1300 weeks, 9100 days, 218400 hours, 13,104,000 minutes, etc., etc., etc., (I think you get the point) OLD!!!!