On May 2, I competed in the Alabama Senior Olympics to qualify for the National Senior Games that will be held in Albuquerque, in June of 2019.  (Qualifying years are the even years, and the National Senior Games take place in the odd years.)  It was my first time traveling to Hoover, Alabama for their state games, because I usually swim at the Georgia Senior Golden Olympics, in September.  After three times competing under the hot sun in warm water at a poor facility, though, I was ready for a new experience.

What a nice surprise!  The Hoover Recreation Center was beautiful.  I had never seen such a nice, well-equipped locker room at a city facility, and the deck area was comfortable for competitors and guests alike.

Although the pool was warmer than the recommended competition temperature of 78-80, it was still a few degrees cooler than the Warner Robins pool in Georgia.  Nice!  They also had electronic touch pads, which is more accurate than hand-timing a race.

The best part about the meet was the fact that it ran a whopping 3-1/2 hours faster than the Georgia meet, and that includes the one-hour medals ceremony at the end!  In addition, the staff and volunteers were fabulous!

A special thanks to Deanna Pack, Program Coordinator for the Governor’s Commission on Physical Fitness and Sports, for shooting photos at the meet.  I especially appreciated this, because the photos were made available for the athletes to download and keep.  (Since my husband shoots video of my races for me to analyze and learn from following each meet, I don’t have any nice photos from my competitions.)  Deanna did a nice job on these, and she has allowed me to post them.  This is what she wrote when I asked permission:

“I am so glad to hear you enjoyed the photos! You have my permission to use any photos you would like, but there is no need for credit.

We hope you enjoyed your time with us and will return in 2020!”

Deanna, I am giving you credit anyway!  THANKS!

Only two of us gals competed in the 200 Yard Butterfly, so they combined us with the only man to compete in that race, my teammate, Bob Cutrone.  We all won golds, because we had no competitors in our respective age groups!

I was happy and relieved to have won six gold medals in the 400 IM, 200 Butterfly, 200 Breaststroke, 200 Individual Medley, 100 Butterfly, and 50 Breaststroke– all in about two hours of time!

Leslie Landey and Stacy Fox were the other two from Georgia to travel to Alabama for the meet.  Stacy and I competed against each other in the 50 Breaststroke in the 55-59 age group.  That’s Bruce in the background looking over the heat sheet.