Sunday 27th July 2014
I knew that today was going to be a big day for me as my Pioneer 79 Swimming Club Head Coach, Mike Wilson, his girlfriend Kate and two personal friends would be watching me, along with two of my club mates, Tom Gilroy and James Thompson! My family would be here again, as would be Tracy, Steven and Georgia! My best events were today, the 200m Individual Medley and 100m Breaststroke but the only problem was, that the gap between the two events would be minimal, even closer together than yesterday's two events!
My first event was the 200m Individual Medley, entering on a time of 2.23.78, and swimming in the fastest heat (Heat 4), I was extremely pleased to finish 7th in my heat in a new personal best time of 2.23.75, although only 0.03 of a second, it was still a pb! Next up was the 100m Breaststroke, having literally swam just under 30 mins earlier and setting a new pb, I was extremely disappointed with my swim, entering a time of 1.13, my finishing time was almost 2 seconds slower, finishing 8th in my heat.
At the end of the heats session, I met up with everyone at the end of the pool. Knowing that I was disappointed with my Breaststroke result, I was very nervous to see everyone, especially Mike! However, everyone tried to put my mind at ease and make me feel better by speaking positively about my 200m IM swim, along with the whole experience of being at the Games. I could tell that Mike was also disappointed, but we didn't really speak much about it, I'm sure he will talk to me more about it at a later date. Perhaps in hindsight, I should have selected to swim in either one or the other of the events, not both.
Returning to the village, I was relieved to know that I had only 1 more swim left at the Games, the 50m Backstroke tomorrow. I had mixed feelings; excited but also feeling rather sad, I have had such an amazing experience competing here, I don't want it to end. On Tuesday morning, my mum and dad will be collecting me from the village and we will be travelling down to Sheffield so I can compete at the ASA Age Group Nationals. I thought I would be really excited about it, but half of me just wants to stay here and enjoy the rest of the experience in Glasgow. I know that I have to go down to Sheffield as this will be the best year for our Club at the Nationals so far as we have 7 age group swimmers competing, 2 youth and 1 open water qualifier, it will be great for the club and Mike, our Coach.
