"Go! Why are you stopping?"

"I can't."

"Just go and try your best."

"Ugh!" I push off the wall.

I keep thinking to myself that my arms are going to fall off and sink to the bottom of the pool if I don't stop. Everyone else can, so why can't I? Coach tells me I can push myself pretty hard and achieve my goals and he knows it. I don't believe him.

Practice is almost over. The set is almost over. As I approach the wall I can hear my heart beat get louder and louder.

"Hey coach?"

"Yea."

"Um I won't be at practice tomorrow."

"Why?"

"I have to go to the doctor to get shots."

"Okay. Thanks for letting me know; unlike last time....you have ten seconds until the next set starts."

By the time the next set starts, I feel a little energized again. Until I became a swimmer, I never really realized how precious time was. As every second goes by you get older, smarter, and its one more second until practice is over. Now when I move my arms every stroke all I feel is pain. I can't stop, I have to push myself. "One, two, three, gasp. One, two, three, four, five, gasp. One, two, three, gasp." I honestly hate this set because we have to pace and count our breathing every stroke. It seems like forever. Of course, every few times I do mess up he's actually looking.

"Don't you know the pattern?"

"Yea....why?"

"Then why aren't you swimming it?!"

"Because I feel like I can’t."

"Don't say that you can't, believe in yourself."

I try my best to do the pattern. To swim nonstop with every gasp of air becoming louder and louder. Its 5:30 now and I am cooling down and going home. I love the feeling of ripping my swim cap off my head and submerging my head into the water. Lying in my bed, the ice pack I have on my shoulder is freezing cold, but feels so wonderful. I hope doing this will prepare my shoulders for my meet tomorrow.

"3.2.1?? What's that?"

“Three hundred swim, two hundred IM, and one hundred streamline."

"Okay, thank you."

"Be ready for your race later."

I am now about to race. As my heart is pounding, feeling like it's going to rip out of my chest any minute. I clear my goggles so I can see. They always seem to fog up. I step up on the block, almost shaking, telling myself that no matter what you will do fine. The buzzer goes off and the eight of us dive in the water from the block. At first it is not that bad, but as I come to the halfway mark of sixteen laps, I thought I was going to pass out. I thought about giving up, just stopping so many times, you could not even imagine. Something told me though that I had to keep going and that I could swim this race. As I swam my last lap to touch the wall I tried to sprint, but I felt so drained. My time was 6'34'05. I came in seventh place. That was my first time swimming a 400 race and I hope that the next ones I swim will decrease in time and my endurance will become greater beating what I had just done. If you believe you can achieve.

This event has changed my life because the race taught me that if you try your best and always work hard, you can achieve your goals. It does not matter what other people think or see it just matters what you think. This event in my life is something that I am proud of doing and next time I will only be better because believe.