What a Night!

I guess you can see from my change in the NativeMom header that I had a FANTASTIC night last night!! Quite the Cougar was I.

Daytona State College held a fundraiser for its new Swim program. Steve Lochte, the father and coach of USA Olympic Gold Medalist (and hometown boy) Ryan Lochte, has been recruited to bring the local community college's swim program to a whole new level. As a fundraiser, Ryan agreed to swim in a fun competition against another local hometown hero, Charlie Lydecker.

Charlie, a local businessman, is ranked second in the nation in his age group for competive swimming. At 45, Charlie has competed in the Alcatraz Escape from the Rock triathalon and is a true success story. He's also a very interesting guy who I've had the privilege of knowing for more than 15 years.

I was at the Splashdown fundraiser at DSC last night to root on Charlie. Getting to "Cougarhandle" Ryan Lochte (and Lydecker) was just a bonus. 

Several months ago, Wondertwin and I, in our first Cougarlike moment, determined that Ryan Lochte was so yummy he smelled like Chlorine and Cupcake. Last night, I challenged Wondertwin and my friend DangerMom to try and get photos of ourselves parked on the laps of unsuspecting and yummy Ryan Lochte. Only what we didn't know is that the Cupcake had body guards. So here is the result.

Oh well, no lap sit, but we had a fantastic time anyway. I took Beloved and Stepson along, since they are the family swimmers. Beloved swam competitively in high school and at the Naval Academy. Stepson was recently named MVP of his high school's swim team and almost made it to state level competition this year. Beloved got to meet one of his contemporary heroes. Below is a photo of him and Olympian Rowdy Gaines. 

Swim boys rock!

Update: Got several comments/e-mails asking who won the race. I was so transfixed by the abs I didn't even think you'd want to know that. Cupcake won, but Charlie was a sight to behold!