VALENTINE'S CLASSIC!! and a history of St. Valentine

for the seventh and last year, i will spend the saturday closest to Valentine's day in my swimsuit, wet and waiting for my next event. yep, tomorrow's the Valentine's Classic, and my last home meet. in a way, i'm sorta sad...i've been competing for seven years now. plus i really enjoy the camaraderie on my team - it's like a really BIG family. but i'm not going to miss punishing my shoulders all the time. DEFINITELY not missing that. here are the events i'll be swimming and my seed times (fastest time to date) for them. (format - min:sec)
4x50yd medley relay (backstroke, BREASTSTROKE, butterfly, freestyle) - n/a
50yd freestyle - 0:33
100yd freestyle - 1:19
100yd backstroke - 1:30
100yd breaststroke - 1:36
4x50yd freestyle relay - n/a

since sunday *is* St. Valentine's Day, i'm going to offer a history of the saint that the holiday is named after. becuz apparently, most of the world doesnt know the reason we CALL it "Valentine's" Day.

St. Valentine was a priest in rome during the Christian persecutions under claudius II. legend says he would perform marriages for soldiers in the roman army - which had been outlawed by claudius. we do know that when he would not renounce his faith, he was beaten with clubs, and when that wouldn't kill him, he was beheaded on february 14 in approximately 270. he's now the patron Saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers, and young people. (just a few different things to keep him busy!) the holiday as we know it started as the roman holiday lupercalia (if you wanna know what it was, look it up, i'm NOT going into it). anyhoo, between St. Valentine being patron Saint of love and lovers and pretty much everything related to it and the ancient festival lupercalia once celebrated the day after, St. Valentine's Day became a holiday dedicated to couples.

so, there's a nice history for ya, and the less serious business of the swim meet ;) i'll post results sometime before next weekend.

if i don't post before, happy Valentine's day to all!
-enna

(references used: www.catholic.org and www.history.com/content/valentine)