Its official, when I retire I'm moving to Spain to be a swim coach. Today was great- we got to Almendralejo around 10, did a half hour of warm-ups and started the meet at 11. I swam the 50 (meter) butterfly in 29 seconds, won my heat! I have no idea how I did overall though, it was all run by stopwatch and paper so we'll have results sometime this week. There's one set of touch pads in Extremadura and it was in Caceres with the girls team.

I guess I should explain how the club works--basically every city big enough to have a club has one, open to all ages, and they compete at meets every month. The "Copa de Clubes," Club Cup, finishes up in April so I'll get to swim in the final competition, which I think is in Caceres. The top 2 finishers from each club score.

I was really confused because they told me the meet was at 11 and 5... but not prelim/finals. After the butterfly there were a couple more events and then a break from 2 to 5. We went to a restaurante, ate a 3 course meal--salad and bread, pasta, chicken fillets and french fries, and an apple-- and then everyone took an hour long nap. That's why I want to be a swim coach here-- they interrupted a swim meet for SIESTA!

After my nap I was a little groggy but we warmed up again and I felt better, still a little wierd with a full stomach and a nap, but I felt more Spanish at least. I survived the 100 individual medley with a time of 1.08, so-so but that event combines all of my weaknesses so I'm not going to complain. I finished out the day with a 26.1 in the 50 free, I think I may have scored for the club!! That converts to a 23.3 in yards, roughly.

Tomorrow a couple of the guys are running the Caceres Half Marathon so I'm meeting up with some swimmers to cheer them on. I should have done it, but then again that'd mean I'd have to RUN to train... and I'd rather not!

I'm pretty sure we're still in the lead for the Copa de Clubes!!