Peyton Secures Her First Regional Time

My girl who doubts herself and her abilities always, and then somehow seems to flourish made her first regional time cut in her first swim meet for long course last week. 

She just started the long course season which runs through July, and has them swimming greater lengths in a longer pool so they don't get to use the wall as much for turns which is helpful if your strength is not flip turns and being explosive off the wall. Maybe long course is her strength because in her first meet she secures a regional time in the 100M breast stroke. She was so surprised and so proud of herself and so was I.  Peyton constantly compares herself to other swimmers and is deathly afraid of ever getting last in a heat even though I continually remind her that she's racing against herself and her own time. She's learning. She's better preparing her body for meets and has learned to fuel herself in between races when she's there all day. Nerves get the best of her so she doesn't want to eat but realizes when you're swimming 3-4 events a day plus warm ups and you don't eat, you don't have any gas to make your body go. 

So while she has just one regional time so far, she's excited about trying to secure a few more regional times before the end of the long course season so she can go to the regional meet (location TBD but she says it's going to be nowhere cool like the places that Austen goes for soccer). 

I'm just happy that she loves what she's doing and she's made some really great friends who are her teammates there. I see her on deck goofing around with them, cheering them on and just being a normal 12 year old girl and that makes me happy.