Year after year, I make the decision to keep swimming, and year after year I moan and groan alongside my teammates, complaining incessantly about how miserable we are. It's true, to be a swimmer you have to be a certain kind of crazy.

You have to be a certain kind of crazy to choose to wake up at 4:30 a.m. in the middle of January to practice before school. While everyone you know is still fast asleep in their warm, cozy bed, you are jumping into a pool so cold it rips the air out of your lungs.

You have to be a certain kind of crazy to get sweet satisfaction from working so hard you feel like you're going to throw up your lungs, your arms are going to rip off, your legs have been shredded. There is no better feeling than knowing you've pushed yourself literally as far as your body can go, and how much stronger you will be because of it.

You have to be a certain kind of crazy to miss days, even weeks, of school to sit on cold, drafty pool decks for hours at a time, just to race for a few seconds, minutes.

You have to be a certain kind of crazy to skip social events-- parties, games-- for meets and practices because you know eventually those months and months of training will lead to that crucial 0.02 second difference you've been trying to drop.

You have to be a certain type of crazy to deal with constantly smelling like chlorine and having "pool hair," regardless of how many showers you take after practice.

You have to be a certain kind of crazy to give up half of your summer to train and compete: Practice 6:00-9:00, eat, nap, practice 4:00-6:00, go to sleep, and repeat until the summer season is finally over.

You have to be a certain kind of crazy to spend more time with your teammates and coaches than you do with your family; to spend more time in the pool and in the gym than you do anywhere else (aside from home and school).

I am so proud to say that I am a certain kind of crazy.