A ring for the...

The Ring

I gave four years of my life to swimming at UW; was made to wear the same shirt for a week; tried to drink a gallon of whole milk in an hour; drank a boot mug full of black velvet whiskey; woke up at 5:40 am four days a week; practiced 20 hours a week; practiced Saturday mornings; took it easy on Friday nights because of Saturday morning workout; studied on the clock; glared at happy people at 5:40 am; rode in crappy buses with no leg room; and while we are on the topic of buses, put up with ridiculous movies during road trips; made friends; lost friends; put on wet speedos at 5:50 am; walked in the early morning, when it was below zero, to the pool so I could jump in; swam miles after miles; lived under suffocating rules, under a suffocating coach; had short Thanksgiving breaks; had short Christmas breaks; had to swim on New Year's Day; had to share a room for two college guys with four other people; put my 6'9" frame on a pullout bed for a week; spent my vacations swimming; had to see people hurt and pushed to the wayside by a coach; spent hours talking to those people; swam and lifted during finals week at 6 am; had very limited free time; acted like I was happy with the situation at times; listened to a lot of lies; saw a team left in the dark after someone quit; was treated like a 12-year-old; wanted to quit so many times; saw favorites move to seconds, to thirds, and out; was grateful for a minute away from it all; got disconnected with friends; wondered what everyone else was doing; ran stairs at War Memorial at 7,220 ft; ran 5ks before swimming 3ks; dressed in a locker room built to house ten with twenty other guys; smelled like chlorine; skin turned to scales; went to BYU to swim; got beat; lied; took naps whenever I could; thought I wasn't going to make it to the end, even with six weeks to go; won; cried; laughed; smiled; swam as a Cowboy; was proud; screamed after my best swim; cheered for teammates; saw the end of many swimming careers; wondered about the end of mine; cried with my parents when it came; was thankful, happy, sad, serious, and was in awe; and all I got was this ring.