So I realized that I didn’t do one of these yesterday and now, unfortunately, the days are starting to blur together. So here goes on another edition of “Tales From The Deck”

After tonight’s session we felt extreme sadness. I’m talking like being on the verge of tears. Why, you ask? Because T-Dub!! finished 3rd in the men’s 200 Fly, thus not making the Olympic Team. I don’t know if there was anyone else in the meet we wanted on the team more than him, so when Gil Stovall swam the race of his life (props to him, that was badass!) we knew Davis‘ chances at punching a ticket for Beijing were reduced to zero. But he left it all in the pool. That was his best time. For our own selfish reasons, we want him to continue one more year — like a couple of his teammates — but we understand if he’s ready to move on. Seeing how upset his mom (whom we adore) was after the race, was almost too much to bear.

And the sadness didn’t end with T-Dub!! It also extended to Miss Kaitlin, a regular Swim Aid reader. She’s been fighting a string of health maladies and injuries in recent months, the after effects causing her to lose critical strength and stamina. But, she’s been dealing with it like a champ and with the smile we’ve all come to love. She’s going to be in the AquaZone Friday, so everyone go, say “hi”, and wish her well! And please know that she’s ok. She wants people to know she’s not on suicide watch or anything.

Other National Team veterans who look to be on the outside looking in include Tara Kirk, Rachel Komisarz, and Neil Walker. Both Tara and Neil were regular Team USA captains. So this is going to be an adjustment. Tara has another race in the 200 Breast, but with such a deep women’s field, you just never know! We wish her good luck in that race!

Today’s session really broke our hearts though. There were a lot of happy moments, but I think the sad outweighed the good from our point of view. We were elated at Allison Schmitt and Caroline Burckle making the team. I’ve called Allison to the team before, and as recently as last night. She’s such a great kid and we love how her personality calms others before races. She was classic in her press conference tonight. Classic. It didn’t even sink in that she was on the relay until that presser when a reporter asked her about it.

I’m going to put the rest of this post behind a cut because it is looooooong as hell. I’m not kidding! So get to clickin’ to read on.

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We feel blessed to have had the opportunity to meet the coolest person EVER in Jason Marsteller!!

You all know Jason, right? He is a force to be reckoned with at Swimming World Magazine and a Swim Aid groupie in his own right; just like all of you!

And yes, this needed its own post. Right, Jason?

This won’t be so much a collection of stories as just general observations. We’re now into day 3 and things are starting to mush together, so apologies if this is already incoherent.

We had lunch with the BHOers. A lot of fun! We hadn’t seen a lot of them in a year, so reunions are always great! We went to the Omaha Farmer’s Market and ate at Spaghetti Works (?). It was delicious! Good food and good people! We had storytelling time - which included a couple of fabulous impressions - and it was classic. But that’s for us to know and you to be envious of.

We were much more rested yesterday after staying up entirely too late the night we got into town. We couldn’t help it! We hadn’t seen each other in a long time. The Swim Aids usually only go a couple of months in between meet-ups, but we’ve been in a drought as of late.

We’ve been trying to avoid talking about this, because our hearts are breaking, but we feel we have to. We are soooo sad for the Asian. His 200 Free semi did not go as planned and he’s now on the outside looking in. We called him to the Olympic Team, last year, as a member of the 800 Free Relay. Doesn’t look like it’s going to happen as he’s the 1st alternate for tonight’s final. We have a hard time looking at the pictures of his race.

We are also in shock over Rachel Komisarz not qualifying for the 100 Fly. Didn’t see that one coming! I’m not sure she intended to go out that fast and then not hold on, but that’s what sometimes happens at the Olympics Trials. You just never know! Dreams are both made and crushed.

The security measures are a bit much. I get that this is a HUGE meet, but man! When we go into the media entrance, a drug sniffing dog takes a whiff of our bags. I don’t know, but I feel like if you’ve approved someone for media credentials after that in-depth application process, that you feel comfortable with them being around the athletes. Guess not! We don’t have anything to hide, so the dogs can sniff to their hearts content. I was just amused at it. Peter Bick informed us that the dogs need to do a sniff before you are granted access to the catwalk or some of kind of foolishness. Word on the street is that a lot of the bigger named photogs aren’t happy.

Brendan Hansen’s press conference last night was a treat! He’s great with the media and his personality shines. There were lots of laughs from what we saw and heard, and we weren’t even there the entire time. Props to B-Han.

How about that big-ass Matt Grevers TYR poster of awesomeness? We approve. We approve.

I can’t remember anything else I should share, so I’ll just stop! Here’s to some more World Records!