#10

Since finishing my last book, I have read most of a book called No Limits by Michael Phelps with Alan Abrahamson. It is really interesting because he wrote it very shortly after the Beijing olympics this past summer. Throughout the book so far, he recaps some exciting races of his from his perspective. It is really interesting to find out what goes through his mind while he races. Another interesting thing is he talks about some of the practices he has had to endure. After reading about his intense workouts and crazy schedule, it makes me appreciate my practices and schedule a lot more. He had practice on every holiday, even Christmas, and swam every day of the week, including Sunday. And along with that, he was doing doubles, which is swimming before school and again after school. Although I have had to endure doubles, I can't imagine having to practice on Christmas and Sundays. Swimming every day of the week is crazy! I also found it really interesting that he didn't really care about what the media was saying going into the 2008 olympics. He had his own goals, and although he of course wanted the 8 gold medals, he wasn't paying attention to what everyone was saying about it. It's great that while he is doing all this, he is also trying to promote the sport of swimming. In Australia, swimming is as big as football is here in the US. He has looked up to his former competitor, Ian Thorpe, for inspiration. Thorpe is a huge public figure in Australia and has made swimming even bigger there. That is what Michael Phelps is striving for. He wants to make swimming huge here, and from how he has described it, he is working hard to make it that way.