If You Never Try…
If you never try… You’ll never fail. But more importantly, you’ll never succeed. Tonight I raced a little differently to how I would usually go about it. The result of my semi final swim last night showed me what my normal strategy would produce, and I liked it. But if I was looking to be faster I was going to have to change something.
Looking back on my 100 Breaststroke final at NCAA’s a couple of weeks I felt like I wasn’t aggressive enough on the front end of the race, sure that left me with the ability to come home strong, but I believe the tactic prevented me from breaking the 54 flat barrier in the short course pool. Last night I didn’t want to be left with the same feeling and attacked hard from the start.
I managed to get out faster than I did in the prelims and the semi finals, and although I closed the race with the second fastest 50 (behind Cameron VD Burgh who put together a fantastic race) I struggled on my way home finishing in a 1.03.11, just being touched out by two one-hundredths of a second and getting third. (That will fuel my fire on a couple of the tough sets I face in the next year, that you can be sure of!)
Although I am disappointed that I didn’t manage to put together a time that I know my body is capable of right now, this is my first medal at South African National Champs and I am very, very happy with my effort. Thomas Edison once said, ”I have not failed. I’ve just found a 10,000 ways that won’t work”. He has a point. I’m a better swimmer today than I was yesterday and I still have another 365 days of learning to do!
Awesome swim!
Well done, coming from a small club in Malawi (Liyani!) to bronze in the SA Champs!
That is AWESOME!
Amazing stuff. So so proud of you.
Great race and awesome come back this morning “Keep your Bum up “:).
Wear that medal with pride. I like the fact that you tried something different, and that result will help you learn even more about how to do this stuff. When life gets measured in hundredths of seconds, new learning sits on a razor’s edge. There is no way you should think you left anything in the pool.
Well done Rory – Chris and I are with Steve and Mary at the moment and have been watching with great interest what you have achieved. We are praying the 365 days ahead are really productive and you achieve your dream.
Norma
Good effort, Rory. You are still our champ!!
Iral & Gwen