Swimmin' off the seconds!

I can not even begin to tell you how proud I am of Mads, our little fish!  The Green County YMCA Gators Swim Team started this year on October 13th.  The progress that Mads made in less than 4 months is just astounding!  She has worked so hard.  She has listened to her coaches, made adjustments, and just gotten stronger!  It's amazing to see how defined the muscles in her back and shoulders are, and those thigh muscles from kicking... soon she may rival Eddie Lacy!  :)

Mads had her final swim meet for her first season on Saturday, February 7th.  It was a home meet, the Pick Your Distance Meet.

Mads swam three events.  The 25 meter Freestyle, 50 meter Freestyle, and 25 meter Backstroke.

Here are some pictures of the Pickle in action!

Taking her mark for the 25 Free:

 Powering through that water!

 Finished!  Her time was: 31.58 seconds.  SIX SECONDS faster than her previous time of 37.46!!

 Next up was the 50 Free.  Mads was super nervous about this event as it required her to swim one length, turn around and swim another length back.  She knows how to navigate the turn (no flip turns yet!) without touching the bottom, but as it was her first time in competition, she was still worried about it.  

Take your mark!

 GO!

 Looking good...

 And she got the turn!!

 And a good finish!  Her time was:  1:13:28 

 Her last event was her favorite - the 25 meter Backstroke.  Mads absolutely loves backstroke!  :)

Take your mark:

 And she's off!

 Go Go Pickle!

Apparently I didn't take a finish picture - but she finished strong with a time of 34.90.  TWO SECONDS faster than her previous time of 36.46!!

What a speedster!!  

Video of her events from the Pick Your Distance Meet:

(If you want to look back at her first meet on December 13, 2014 the link is here.)

How amazing is Mads!  All of her hard work day after day, week after week, and only for 4 months! You can see the astonishing progress she has made!!

To celebrate all of Mads' hard work we took a day trip to Schamburg.  We did some shopping and had a celebration lunch at Cheesecake Factory!

Dad and the Super Swimmer!

 Nate and me!

 The kids with their cheesecake!  Nate was concerned that we only ordered two pieces to share...

 Look at that massive Oreo!

 Mads chose Red Velvet

 Thumbs Up!  

 A great way to celebrate!

Of course the kids didn't finish the pieces of cheesecake.  Actually, all four of us eating the cheesecakes and we still didn't finish them!  :)

We are sooooo proud of you Mads!  You did such a wonderful job and you worked SO hard.  We love you!