the noise of the room stills as we step up on the blocks. my head hurts. my heart pounds. my stomach as been doing somersaults for the last ten minutes. i pull my swim cap down around my ears and stick my goggles on my face. "swimmers. take your mark. get set" i can feel the blood rushing from my heart. i slow my breathing, long slow inhale, exhale, "GO" i take a long, deep breath as my muscles spring into action. they are ready for this, they have trained for weeks for this moment. the only thing now is the mental game. the only thing keeping me away from a win is my over-active brain. ...stroke, stroke, stroke, breathe, stroke, flip, slice through the water. the hard part is over. my brain lets out a sigh of relief and within moments my hand slams against the scoring pad, stopping the clock. lazily, i allow my body to drift to the surface. slowly, i remove my goggles, nonchalantly, i look at the score board. "lane 4. 2nd place" not bad for a first meet. in a daze, i turn and shake the hands of the girls beside me. breathing easy, i slip out of the pool. i grab a bagel, my towel, and my ipod and start the re-psych process for my next race.