Nothing But Greatness and Gratefulness!

Today is one of those days that you get finished with and wonder how you could ever complain about anything.

Today, I am nothing but grateful for a lot of things.

I had the most amazing afternoon with about 25 of the most incredible girls I know. They are fierce, they are passionate, they are tough and they are my teammates.

As much as my life revolves around my college swim team, I purposely wanted to separate my blog from it so that I had something that wasn't affected by my swimming. However, because it is such a big part of my life, and this blog is about things that happen in my life, it would be impossible to completely avoid it.

So this afternoon our fifth-ranked team hosted the No. 2 ranked team. On paper, with the meet swam out with everyone's best times, they would beat us by 100 points.

But black and white times mean nothing when your heart rate is pumping blood and oxygen to every muscle you could possibly use. When your teammates and coaches are chanting your name. When you are diving in next to a girl that you know if you don't beat could mean the difference between winning and losing the whole meet.

One of the things I love the most about my team is the fight we have in us. Losing was not an option to any of us today.

It came down to the last relay, but we did not let them get the best of us. We had too much tradition riding on the win and too much fire in our hearts to bow out. This win signified our 60-meet winning streak at home. Generations of swimmers have contributed to that number and my team today was not about to give it up.

So I am grateful today. Grateful for the women who have come before us, set the standard, contributed to the legacy and established a tradition. I am grateful for the women I have with me now. They are hard workers, tough competitors and incredibly fun to be around. I am grateful for my coaches, who push me in practice and meets, and take time to mold me into a better swimmer, racer and person. I am even grateful for teams like the one we raced today. The challenges they bring only make our team stronger and push us to be better.

So maybe I will complain about getting up early in the morning, or a hard set during practice tomorrow, but I know it will make me better.

And today I am grateful.