Castello Delle Regine

On the afternoon of August 7th I arrived at Castello Delle Regine. This place is about 1,000 acres where they grow their own grapes (make wine) and olives (make olive oil) and raise their own Chianina beef. There are also farmhouses where guests can stay and a restaurant where guests can eat, where private parties are held and locals can come dine. The people here are unbelievably nice and have made me feel like I am part of their family, literally. I will be staying here for the next few weeks learning about food, cooking, wine, olive oil and everything and anything I can soak up.
Some of the grape vines...they are everywhere.
Casale Patata...one of the farmhouses where guests can stay. All of them are very beautiful. If you want, you can buy fresh ingredients on the property and cook your own meals in each farmhouse.

The storage facility for the wine.
Last night there was a birthday party which included the best Sommeliers in all of Italy. The man crouching down in the white shirt in the front is the most famous Sommelier in all of Italy, Alessandro Scorsowe. In this picture we are at a wine tasting...It's not everyday you get to drink some of the best wine around with some of the most knowledgeable and famous wine experts in the world! I was basically laughing and smiling the entire time because what I'm doing here is so much fun and exciting...and because sometimes I can't get over the stuff I get myself into haha...
Here is a view of the party which took place by one of the three pools outside the restaurant.

Garrett's cooking adventure begins in Italy

"I was cutting tomatoes into little cubes until my back was just aching," Garrett told his sister on the phone last night.

He's spending a couple weeks in the kitchen at a Castello delle Regine in Umbria. Friends from the Bartollota Restaurant Group here in Milwaukee made the connection. Garrett's task? Learn as much as he can about cooking, restaurants, Italian food, the production of olive oil and wine. It's a rare and privileged opportunity.

Wireless is proving to be a little bit of a challenge out in the Italian countryside, but he hopes to start posting his own updates soon. Meanwhile, Twitter seems to work on and off, so you might try to follow him there: www.twitter.com/G_WeberGale.

Just a few minutes ago, I got another update by phone:

"They had me make an incredible herb sauce this morning--basil, marjoram, lots of other things, mixed with olive oil and put through a grinder. The chef said, 'Go, get you notebook. Write down these recipes.' "

More updates soon--Mark, Garrett's dad.

Birthday dinner at a neighborhood spot where everybody knows your name (Well, not ours.)

It's a good sign when you're the only English speakers in a little Italian restaurant, when the owner's parents come in to dine, when everyone seems to know everyone, when the owner's yellow lab roams the dining room, when the prosciutto is cut by hand from a cured leg sitting on a table by the door, when the buffalo mozzarella is bobbing in a giant bowl on a table. (No, some of this would not pass muster in the U.S.)

We had a memorable dinner our last night in Rome. It was good after an exhausting day in the Mediterranean--"Dad, let's swim out to see what's on the other side of that point. Dad, let's swim out to the white buoy and back. Dad, let's play paddle ball in the water. Dad, let's walk out to see if those guys are catching anything on the jetty."

More from Garrett when he gets set up in the countryside--Mark

Living and Learning...Sometimes the Hard Way

A chef I befriended last year in Singapore once wrote me a short and direct email after a disappointing swim I had in Beijing...he said, “the greatest test of courage in the world is to bear defeat without losing heart.” My heart was temporarily lost but has been recovered. I felt a bit defeated and lost partly due my nature of being very hard on myself at times and often expecting the world. This past swim season has been very difficult on my mind and body. I felt pressure from within my core to perform and out-do what I did last summer. My goal for the year was to do what I did last summer, but better. How did I prepare you ask? I worked my tail off spending many extra hours in the weight room and further refining my technique…I also sacrificed many things including going out with friends at times, desserts, going home to see my family, traveling and getting a break from the grind of training, and even some personal relationships which I deeply regret.

This summer was not, at first glance, what I had worked for, dreamt of, nor wanted. I never wanted to get third in the 50 and 100 freestyles at Trials. I never wanted to swim only the preliminary of the 400 free relay at World Championships (however this was the right coaching choice…I didn’t swim fast enough in the preliminary to deserve a spot on the finals relay). I never wanted to stress over the suit issue within myself, with my coaches and with others. I never wanted to push a good friend away in order to make myself better for swimming (which in actuality made it worse). The point is that it doesn’t always matter what we want or how hard we work to fulfill a dream. Life, as I’ve found out the hard way at times, doesn’t always follow a direct path. We must be pliable. What matters is how we handle situations we encounter that differ from what we expected…and how we frame the obstacles that try to alter our paths to success.

For much of my life I have tended to see mostly black and white, and no, I do not mean in a literal sense. Something was either going to help my swimming or not, make me happy or it was not, make me better or it was not. The first glance of this summer was not the beauty I had imagined it would be. The vibrant shades of the spectrum were non-existent. What was existent was something I rarely see, shades of gray. Sometimes it takes the unexpected, the disappointing, and even the negative cold edge of life for me to see what is truly the right way. This summer was a cold and sharp edge for me.

When I finished my race in Rome I immediately thought this summer, and in part, the past year, had been a waste. Nothing I did this summer was better than last summer. Part of me thought that was it. I wanted to give up on swimming. For a brief period I thought I was going to. What was all the hard work and sacrifice for if my year didn’t end in the success I had desired?

My mother always raised me to have confidence and truly believe that everything happens for a reason. Although it can feel like a bullet in the butt sometimes…I still believe this to be true. This summer of unexpected occurrences allowed me to see things I hadn’t before. Here is a small list of things I learned this summer that I will take through the rest of my life.

1. I need more tests/meets/reality checks along the way which will help me indicate where I am and what I need to do in order to get where I want to go (this goes for most things…not just swimming).
2. Trying to be better and do more things right will not work if I’m not happy doing it.
3. Work towards letting go of things I cannot control.
4. Don’t mistake swimming for being something bigger than it actually is. Swimming is swimming. Swimming is something I do, that has brought great joy and learning to my life, but it in no means defines who I am as a person.
5. Swimming is not more important than good personal relationships. Swimming will last for a little while…good personal relationships can and will likely keep me strong through the good and bad times, long after swimming is gone. Cherish those who really matter.

I'm not sure what the future holds. What I do know is that I am bouncing back from this stronger and smarter than I have ever been. There is so much I have already learned. Plus, I have already begun doing push-ups throughout the day...I will be up to 300 per day by the beginning of next week!

Some Good Eatin'

Our waiter with the cuts of meat we can choose from
Assortment of meats and cheeses...figs are grown out back!
MMMMMMMM!!!!
Davis, Dan and me at La Valley
Part of the outside seating at the beautiful restaurant we went to in the countryside!
Our outdoor training pool in Riccione

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

About to leave LA.
Our Jet once we landed in Italy
Just a peek at some of the snacks they had waiting for us
Chillin' before we took off
Cullen and Bob Bowman
Dara watching a movie
The incredible omelet Fred made for me! mmmm sooo good:)
The pilots doing their thing...they got us there safe

ESPYS

My trip to LA for the ESPYS was phenomenal. My sister Hillary met me out there for the awards. We both had an incredible time together. The entire trip was filled with excitement from start to finish. First we arrived in LA and checked into our hotel that was filled with all different sports stars and personalities. It seemed like everywhere we went we ran into people we were used to seeing on TV. One thing that is really apparent when you meet these people is that they are all very pleasant to talk to...they're real people too. I think sometimes society makes movie stars or sports stars seem like fictional characters who have super powers when in actuality they're just people like you and me. For example, I had a chance to talk with Pittsburg Steeler's quarterback Ben Roethlisburger for a bit after the ESPYS and he told me he still gets goosebumps every time he watches our relay (and he's won two Superbowls). Another guy I was really excited to meet was Donald Driver (wide receiver on the Green Bay Packers). I've been a Packer fan as long as I can remember and Donald Driver has always been one of my favorites. He has a wonderful reputation as being a great guy and through talking to him I can say this is totally true.One really spectacular and somewhat unexpected perk was the free stuff they gave us. I'm not talking about t-shirts, hats, and water-bottles. I'm talking about watches, designer sunglasses, cameras, ihome systems, PS3's, free trips, HD video projectors, BOSE speakers etc. They told us the total worth of the gifts we received was over $25,000! Can you believe that? I still barely can.
Once we got to the ESPYS we were taken to the 'red carpet' where they announced each star as they walked out of a door onto the 'red carpet'. The crowd claps and cheers and then you proceed to talk to other guests and take pictures. The only pictures I really got were from the 'red carpet' because once you got inside cameras were not allowed:( Some of the people I met were Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Aaron Rodgers, Jeremy Piven, Kent Desormeaux, Kevin Durant, Samuel L. Jackson etc.As the show started I was getting really excited and a bit nervous as to whether or not we would win the award for "Best Moment". Either way I felt really lucky to be there and was having an incredible time! When the moment of truth came I was getting really excited. When they showed the replay of our 400 Free Relay a tear almost came to my eye. I rarely ever watch that race unless I show it at an appearance or something so when I do see it the drama and excitement brings a lot of emotion back me. When they called out the "US Olympic Relay" I turned to my sister and gave her the biggest hug! Michael, Cullen and I went on stage and accepted the award. Jason was patched in on the video screen from Israel on a live webcast...it was really sweet. After the award we were taken to do some interviews and take pictures. Now I understand why most people wear sunglasses when they get that many pictures taken of them...I could barely see because of all the flashes haha:PDay's like this really make me realize even more than usual how lucky I am and what an incredible life I have. I seriously think to myself sometimes and ask myself, "what else could I possibly want?" I'm very fortunate!
Thanks to all of you who have supported me and helped me fulfill my dreams...for without y'all none of this would have ever been possible.