Day 1 of Nationals in Montreal...got woken up by the clock radio at 6:30 am...talk radio in French. Turned off that noise...tried to sleep but couldn't so was forced to get up!
Our hotel has an Italian restaurant attached to it which makes it very convenient to get breakfast. Lucky for us we didn't have to rush out of here as the meet was due to start at 1 pm.
Off to the pool we went via the Metro. They have quite the system here, very much like Toronto. It's a good thing that Hannes, my handler, has a way better sense of direction than me. I just get so turned around once I get inside. The train is super fast. We got off at our stop and were going to transfer to a bus but then we met up with some people from Oakville, ON and they said it was a 5-10 minute walk.
The weather turned nice here. They have had rain for a week straight. Trees are out in full bloom. The Claude Robilliard Complex is surrounded by beautiful grounds. The lilac trees are in bloom, gorgeous pinks and purples. It really feels like summer.
Registration was upstairs. When I got up there I ran into a few of my Winnipeg peeps and also some folks from the Venezuela training camp. Got our kits, picked up souvenir items that I ordered...hoodie is super nice and so is the t-shirt!
The pool itself is great! We are swimming in 2 ends of the pool...men in one end and ladies in the other. There were 17 heats of 800 freestyle, 16 of which there were two persons per lane. That's a lot of swimmers...and that was just the ladies. I almost missed my heat because I got talking to my Montreal friends...made it though and swam my best time! Found out later that I placed 4th in my age group. There is plenty of room on the pool deck to sit and there were even chairs provided. Some people even brought their own foldable chairs. In addition, there are tons of seats in the stands.
Lots of time between events so I spent a lot of it just chillin' with my I-Pod. Whatever did we do without these wondrous little toys?
Second event of the day was 50 backstroke. I was seeded the fastest time in the "slow" heat. I knew that not only did I have to finish first in this heat, but that I had to beat the last 2 swimmers in the following heat...which I did! Still waiting for confirmation of my placement, fingers crossed...news to follow in next post.
Another fun Metro ride back to the hotel. Had to get the wet stuff hung up to dry. Went out for supper with Tina and her son from Kirkland Lake. Got info from the clerk at the front desk about restaurants on St. Denis which is close to our hotel. Found a nice Italian restaurant...had a craving for spaghetti. Need to carbo load for Saturday! Meal was so good, with excellent service. It was a beautiful evening...people eating outside. Lots of activity on the streets...always seems to be lots of sirens, police and ambulance.
Well, it is day two...will update later.
Our hotel has an Italian restaurant attached to it which makes it very convenient to get breakfast. Lucky for us we didn't have to rush out of here as the meet was due to start at 1 pm.
Off to the pool we went via the Metro. They have quite the system here, very much like Toronto. It's a good thing that Hannes, my handler, has a way better sense of direction than me. I just get so turned around once I get inside. The train is super fast. We got off at our stop and were going to transfer to a bus but then we met up with some people from Oakville, ON and they said it was a 5-10 minute walk.
The weather turned nice here. They have had rain for a week straight. Trees are out in full bloom. The Claude Robilliard Complex is surrounded by beautiful grounds. The lilac trees are in bloom, gorgeous pinks and purples. It really feels like summer.
Registration was upstairs. When I got up there I ran into a few of my Winnipeg peeps and also some folks from the Venezuela training camp. Got our kits, picked up souvenir items that I ordered...hoodie is super nice and so is the t-shirt!
The pool itself is great! We are swimming in 2 ends of the pool...men in one end and ladies in the other. There were 17 heats of 800 freestyle, 16 of which there were two persons per lane. That's a lot of swimmers...and that was just the ladies. I almost missed my heat because I got talking to my Montreal friends...made it though and swam my best time! Found out later that I placed 4th in my age group. There is plenty of room on the pool deck to sit and there were even chairs provided. Some people even brought their own foldable chairs. In addition, there are tons of seats in the stands.
Lots of time between events so I spent a lot of it just chillin' with my I-Pod. Whatever did we do without these wondrous little toys?
Second event of the day was 50 backstroke. I was seeded the fastest time in the "slow" heat. I knew that not only did I have to finish first in this heat, but that I had to beat the last 2 swimmers in the following heat...which I did! Still waiting for confirmation of my placement, fingers crossed...news to follow in next post.
Another fun Metro ride back to the hotel. Had to get the wet stuff hung up to dry. Went out for supper with Tina and her son from Kirkland Lake. Got info from the clerk at the front desk about restaurants on St. Denis which is close to our hotel. Found a nice Italian restaurant...had a craving for spaghetti. Need to carbo load for Saturday! Meal was so good, with excellent service. It was a beautiful evening...people eating outside. Lots of activity on the streets...always seems to be lots of sirens, police and ambulance.
Well, it is day two...will update later.
