Yo Becca – What’s going on over there?

Today we hear from the teenage phenom open water AND pool swimmer Becca Mann.   Becca is representing team USA in Barcelona swimming both the 5K and 10K events.  She’ll hit the water on Saturday in the 5K. 

We definitely had some fun today.  We saw some lamb legs, seaglass, the Cristóbal Colón statue…the list goes on and on.  It was a day to remember.

I’ve learned so much since we arrived in Spain a week ago.  Last week I had no idea what I was doing.  On day two, we did an open water workout where we all closed our eyes (except the person who was leading, of course) and tried to swim in a straight line based on where we felt the draft of the person swimming in front of us.  When we were told to open our eyes again, everyone was generally in the same area.  Except me.  I was about thirty meters off course, heading out to sea.

Today was also the day we traveled from our training vacation city, Mataró, to Barcelona.  It’s bittersweet; I loved Mataró, but I can already tell that I’m going to love Barcelona.  We got lost on the way here, but it all worked out because that was the road that led to the Cristobal Colon statue.  That’s how it works in Barcelona; if you make a wrong turn, you’ll just run into something super cool.

The day started off with the regular routine: we went to the pool.  I chose Bryce Elser’s car.  I always choose his car because the ticket he uses to get out of the parking lot only works about half the time.  Everyone else thinks I’m crazy, but I think it gives the uneventful drive a sense of excitement.  Today we made it through on the first try.

I’m going to miss several things in Mataró.  The first one is the awesome pool on the beach.  The thing that I loved most about that pool was that, no matter which way you breathe, you see some incredible nature.  Breathe to the right, you see the mountains.  Breathe to the left, you see the Mediterranean.  But that wasn’t the only cool thing about the pool.  The black lines are all off center (there are twelve lanes and only ten lines), so it’s more like open water than you would imagine.

So after we swam, we hit the grocery store to pick up some lunch.  That was where I saw the lamb legs.  It was sad.  There were at least forty legs hanging on the wall.  I’m not going to get into much detail, but I don’t understand the marketing behind it.  Don’t you want the food to look…edible?

After that, a few of us jumped back into the pool.  Our hotel was about half a mile away from the pool, so some of us walked back on the beach and looked for seaglass.  That was our pass-time hobby in Mataró.

Finally, we drove to Barcelona and we are now relaxing in our hotel rooms waiting for dinner.  Tonight we have our rookie skits.  I’ve organized the whole thing, but I’m stuck with the most uncooperative group.  They just decided that they’re going to wing it, so it should be interesting.  It’s been a fun day, and we’re all getting very excited for our races.

Until next time, this is Becca Mann, signing off.