Thanks to Claire Dudek for contributing this piece.
This poem was written in commemoration for the last morning distance practice of the season at Smith College.
On every Tuesday/Thursday eve
A ticking clock one must conceive
To get to bed before eleven
And get some sleep that is the heaven
Alarms go off in the early morn
And you start to wish you hadn’t been born
Aching limbs from weights before
With back, legs and shoulders all very sore
Out of the house and into the cold
With many stairs making pain tenfold
A short wait standing by locked doors
Until we get in to the warm indoors
Out on deck, and few are there
Who braved the chilly morning air
Flailing arms by lanes 1 & 2
To attempt to make the muscles move
As clock hands turn to 6:15
Feels like approaching a guillotine
What will be the set today?
As we dive off into the fray
3 800’s on 10:30
Will make your shoulders very hurty
Counting turns for many laps
And soon your mind will start to nap
How many lengths have we now done?
As shoulder muscles become overdone
And just when you think you might not die,
You realize you’re pacing Karen’s fly
A 400 IM, a 500 free
Can be a struggle on 6:30
Some intervals made, some intervals missed,
Through the practice we all persist
200’s descend on 2:45
Throws all systems to overdrive
Mid-distance speed is hard to get,
But done if approached with the right mindset
And now this practice comes to end
With fast 100’s on 1:10
Spinning wheels with water flying
And now you really feel like dying
A few thousand yards has just been done
Before the rising of the sun
Muscles ache, but we all know
When it comes to meets we won’t be slow
Pushing through a long, tough set
Helps us make our goals be met
I know I would not have made it through
Without all the love from the amazing d-crew
Claire Dudek is a senior engineering major and distance swimmer on the Smith College Swim & Dive Team, and will miss the Wild Bunch very much next year.
