I am a swimmer.
I wake up at 5:45 three times a week for morning practice.
I am in the weight room doing bench-dips, pull-ups, and single-leg squats before seven.
I swim two miles before breakfast.
I take three classes at an Ivy-league school while training twenty hours a week.
I smell like chlorine even after I shower.
I keep frozen peas in my freezer to ice down sore shoulders.
I wear a bright green parka around campus.
I only shave my legs once a year, a constant reminder of my dedication.
I stay in on Friday nights because I have early practice on Saturday.
I have twenty-six sisters on this campus and two mothers. We are a family.
I have been swimming since I was six years old.
I love every second of it.
I am a swimmer.
 
Please let me swim.

Lindsay Arthur D'06