Loren

Little Rock, AR

“As a little kid I swam just because mom put me in swim lessons. But as you get older it’s just kinda calming. When you’re underwater, you can’t hear anything. You get to escape and be away from all the distractions of the rest of the world. And when you’re swimming races... like, ok, almost every other sport — it’s real loud and you can hear people and teams, and they’re cheering you on and trying to get your attention or whatever and it’s kind of stressful, right? But swim races, you’re completely alone. Even when you’re on a relay race there’s no one around you except for you. You’ve just got to focus on getting to the end of the lap that you’re on or whatever, and it requires a lot of determination. You have to believe in yourself that you’re going to finish the race.”

Transilient: Or else you’ll drown.

Loren: Yes! *laughs*…

.. You can hear ‘em cheering when you come up after the race, but underwater you’re all alone and I like that because it’s affirming but still an individual experience. I just love the way that swimming feels cause’ I’m a lot faster underwater. I can’t run to save my life. To me, it just feels like home I guess.”