Who exactly I'm trying to beat

CK wasn't always a swimmer. At the end of her first summer of swim lessons, another Mom leaned over to my wife and said, "maybe she's just not destined to be much of a swimmer." I think she was 3 then.

The next summer, the other kids in her group lesson didn't show up so her lesson was essentially a private one and it paid off. By the end of that 2 weeks, she was picking up badges left and right, advancing two levels in one session. This began her thirst for swimming affirmation. She spent the summer collecting these badges until she was some sort of dolphin or hammerhead or something. The next summer, she got to the highest level that Haufler provided and it was suggested that she look at a swim team. I think she must have been 5 then.

She tried out for the swim team but the sight of her 30 pound body shivering in the autumn air made the coach's decision an easy one: let's wait for her to put on some weight. She did another clinic with the team in the spring and then made the team as a 6 year old at the end of the summer of 2007.

That started my obsession with tracking her times, projecting future improvements and reading up on everything swimming. In her first meet, she won her first heat ever and got a "B" time in both the 25 back and 25 free. She steadily improved her times and now holds "A" times in every stroke, closing in on PRT's in a few. She still has 3 months left of being an 8 & under and is very excited to try for a few of these elusive PRT's.

I have no chance in Hades of catching up to her in the butterfly or backstroke where she is blindingly fast. In freestyle she's a solid A but relatively far from the PRT and that's why I'm planning on the 50 free as my comparison. 36.16 is all I need to do; at least until she swims it again and drops more time.