A mother of two young children on the plane just gave me ear plugs and chocolate for the flight. Uh oh.

Made it to Salt Lake City. Next stop Seattle!!

Here we go!! Don’t look too tired Schup

mike schnur woke me up this morning, from a dream.  marc laughs as i write this, calling it an omen.  a sign from the boss to get my ass up and get to the airport.  without detailing too much, i dreamt that i was sharing a room with mike and he gruffly woke me up in classic schnur style, “hey, get up, go shower in nick’s room, we gotta go NOW”.  

i had this dream at 4.30am, which was 20 minutes earlier than i had intended to get up, however the content of the dream (and mike’s abrasive tone) shook me from my bed and i actually adhered - i got up and took a shower.  marc (who slept on my couch) was soon to follow, and that is how our day began.

currently we sit at delta gate D15 waiting to board the plane and marc is prompting me to write this initial entry.  we are as excited as we can be, at 6.30am, as we contemplate what lies ahead of us, and naturally, what we have gone through to get here.

the anticipation is high, and between the 2 of us, we’ve either been a national champion (MC) or coached a national champion (DS - SS), and it is on this morning that we allow ourselves to dream the biggest dreams we can.  to recall the tiring morning work-outs, the intensity of afternoons full of lactic acid, the criticality of our jobs, and the grandeur of the stage we are about to set foot on.

it is now that i think back to the kenyon invite when we saw brendan mchugh obliterate his morning heat of the 100 breast to go, what we thought then and are affirmed of now, an NCAA qualifying time of 53.04.  this is the first entry of the trip out to NCAA’s to both inspire him and be inspired by him.  he is primed and we are ready, and it is our strong feeling that we will see something truly special in seattle.

DS & MC