If you had told me at age five that at one point swimming would be my entire life, I would have laughed in your face. But after going from the little kid who was afraid of the water, to a highly competitive break out swimmer, the sport of swimming became my mornings, afternoons, and evenings. Looking back after 10+ years of dedication to the pool, there's definitely thinks I miss, and definitely things I am happy to live without.

Having to watch what you eat after eating 10,000 calories a day sucks.

Every night after practice finished at 7:30, I was the girl in the locker room eating a bag of pretzels, Goldfish, or an entire box of multigrain cheerios. Then I would get home and eat bowls and bowls of pasta and every other carb I could get my hands on. Like most swimmers, I was never not hungry. Being a swammer, I definitely miss eating literally anything my heart desired, as for now, I guess I'll stick to a salad.

I still brag about meeting famous swimmers.

I met and hugged Ryan Lochte. We swam in the same lane at a swim clinic. I accidentally kicked him. I have photographs with Ryan Lochte. This is still literally my claim to fame five years later. I also met Amanda Ray Beard at a book signing. I hugged her, got her autograph, and she tweeted me after. Yes, I still remember all of these details and yes, I will brag about them given the chance.

Standing on the blocks was the biggest rush.

I used to get beyond nervous before every race, sometimes my nerves would bring me to tears. But there is absolutely nothing that compares to the moment you step up onto the block, and zero in on your race. Those butterflies can never be beat.

Swimming for fun is still weird.

I don't know what to do in a pool when I'm with non-swimmers/swammers. Like, just stand there? Naturally I challenge them to underwater contests or go off and swim by myself.

I kind of miss my "little boy" body.

Since I started competitively swimming before I was 10, my body didn't exactly develop like all my other friends'. Aka, I never got boobs and I didn't have hips. However the perks of my little boy body meant I was tiny, and never had to worry about gaining weight or clothes fitting me differently.

I definitely wish I didn't still have man shoulders though.

They are the widest part on my body and my biggest insecurity. Strapless dress, off the shoulder shirts? Yeah, no thanks.

Watching the Olympics gets me overwhelmingly pumped.

It's like the Superbowl for swimmers. Picture a room full of Patriots fans in Connecticut when they won the Superbowl in 2015. That is the same amount of excitement we feel when our favorite swimmers win a race. Our hearts race way more than we would like to admit while watching these amazing athletes.

But the Olympics also makes it feel like we didn't try hard enough.

Why, why, why, why didn't I try harder? My coach always said I had potential but when I was 15 I definitely wasn't Missy Franklin fast.

Seeing how much faster today's 12 years olds are is terrifying.

I remember when just breaking a minute in the 100-freestyle was pretty good for a 12-year-old. Nowadays these kids are easily going under :55. Talk about feeling bad for yourself, I never managed to do that in middle school.

Chlorine brings back memories.

Most people are grossed out by the scent of chlorine, but for swammers we breathe it in and think of fond memories at swim meets and practices, or we cringe at the not so great races and main sets.

Back muscles are permanently one of a swammer's favorite male features.

Swimmers were never too overly toned, but they always had killer back muscle. Chances are if you dated another swimmer, their back was probably extremely toned.

I constantly think about what my swimming career would have been like if I didn't give it up.

I gave up competitive swimming my senior year of high school (I continued with the high school team though), and even though I got numerous offers to swim in college, I turned them all down. However there are some days where I find myself thinking about what would have happened if I kept with it and let my full potential show.

If someone offers me to race, I'm going all out.

I don't care if it's a friendly race across a tiny backyard pool, I am going all out and refuse to lose.

Watching non-swimmers attempt the strokes is painful.

Seeing those adults trying to get in shape by lap swimming with awful technique is absolutely cringe worthy.

Trying to casually swim for exercise is surprisingly difficult without a coach screaming in your face.

I never thought I would see the day where I actually wanted sets and a coach yelling at me to make intervals until I tried casually swimming laps one afternoon. If you're not trying to fit in entire stories in 10 second intervals to your friends or being screamed at to swim faster and breathe every 3 strokes swimming just gets boring.

I still don't understand how 400m is one lap around a track but 16 laps in a pool.

Maybe I'm just bad at math or measuring distance, but as someone who also competed in track I never understood how the lengths of swimming and running races were so different.

No matter what, I am so grateful for how swimming shaped me into who I am today.

Through the excruciating practices, the heart break of not qualifying for races, the rush of getting a best time, and the memories and friends that last a lifetime, swimming shaped me into who I am today, and for that I am beyond thankful.