Back in the Swim of Things

Today I finally took the plunge!

As you are probably aware, I swim.  I am a swimmer.  I swim four mornings a week between the atrocious hours of 5:30 and 7 am.  At least I did until early November when I was dry-docked due to a sick kid..., well, you know the tale.

And even now that he is bouncing around and feeling fine, I still am up all night with his meds..., again, you know the routine.  Just 5 more weeks now.

SO.  So I am always tired and as much as I'd love to get back in the water, and I promise myself tomorrow will be the day, come early a.m., I am wiped out, and I just can't drag my poor sleepless body out of bed any sooner that I absolutely have to.  

However, lately I have come to realize that my malaise and touch of  melancholy may have as much to do with the lack of exercise as the lack of sleep.  The muffin top rising over my waistband, and the "zimm zimm" sound of my thighs rubbing together when I walk are also a good indicator that it is again time to get wet.

Last night, after we dropped off the twins at cub scouts, Dennis took me over to check out the new gym.  Not sure just why.  I already have a gym with a pool, and Dennis has a history of signing up for gyms and then never darkening the doors again.  But OK, what the hey?

So the guy gives us the "tour."  It is early evening and the place is packed with way too many sweaty bodies for my taste.  Fortunately, Dennis and I had just come from taekwando, so we fit right in with the stinky crowd.  Is is so nice to feel like you belong!  So we get the tour and to me it all sounds like "blah, blah, blah."  My lack of interest has everything to do with the fact that I despise any exercise requiring shoes (except maybe for volleyball, but then again, you can play that barefoot, can't you?), or that is dependant on machinery.  I knew that even if we got a membership, my rear would never, ever touch one of those sweaty seats.  My interest lay only in what lie beyond the big glass wall with the waves etched in it.  I was there about a pool.

Our tour finally got us through the etched glass door.  TaDa!  The pool.  

Uh.  I was less than thrilled that it was only two lanes (The pool I swim at has 4), and was turned off when the tour guide proudly announced that the pool was a constant 80 degrees - like that was a good thing.  80 is a bit tepid for my taste.  Warm water is great to jump into but after a few laps you feel like you are swimming in soup.  There's nothing like water that is a tad nippy (just a tad.  I don't belong to the Polar Bear Club!) to get your motor running.  The pool I swim in now is also set at 80 degrees too, so that is the same, but I was hoping for better here where there are maybe fewer old people who seem to like swimming in soup

Not convinced, at the end of the tour, that this was the place for me, I asked for a pass to come try the pool out for myself.  I wouldn't know if this was right until I actually swam in it.  The seven day pass began right then, so I knew this morning, tired or not,  I'd better take the shiny new pool for a test swim.  

5a.m.  I beat the alarm, and give Dylan his meds (I don't have to think about administering the IV anymore.  It has become as automatic and quick as changing a diaper, but much, much cleaner. Only you can let diaper wait until morning), then go hunting for my swimming gear, squeeze into my suit (ugh!), throw on my big chlorine-infused parka (ahh, the smell of chlorine in the morning!) and head out into the dark.

The new gym is further than my current one, but since it is right off the freeway it takes about the same time to get there.  By the way - I HATE that ridiculous Jefferson on/off ramp.  Who thought that one up, anyway?

So I get past the front desk with my wanna-be pass, and to the pool.  It is deserted.  Perfect!  I disrobe and unload at the one bench there.  I prefer a chair.  No hooks for towells. Huh?  I work my way down to the far end of the pool.  I line up all my gear (fins, kick board, pull buoy) at the edge of the pool, put on cap, adjust goggles (ugh, even my head has gotten fatter), and plug my earphones into my ears. (Yes, I have tunes - a waterproof iPod SwimMan; only my best discovery ever!  I get a rockin' underwater workout.  The problem comes when something from Wicked plays and I want to burst into singing - not a good idea while underwater, trust me.  My play list has everything from U2, to Gladys, to bluegrass, to classical.  As long as it moves, I move.  I must say, though, swimming butterfly to Tchaikovsky is truly sublime!)

So I plop into the water.  Not too warm.  Not bad at all.  Then I push off from the wall.  The old pool has one jet on the wall where the hot water comes out, so with each lap I had to swim through a stream of hot water.  Yuck.  But this is nice.  Nice.  Really really nice.  

The pool is a proper 25 yards.  The pool I had been using is short, an awkward 22.3 yards, or something, which makes calculating a workout a bit difficult.  My undeveloped math brain can only handle 4 laps = 100 yards, not 4.2 laps.  It was really hard to figure out how much I was swimming and to convert my workouts into 22 yard laps.  These 25 yard laps are right, and felt right.

And although there are only 2 lanes here, and thus no "good" middle lanes, the lanes are so very wide.  I can safely swim butterfly without scraping my knuckles on the wall, even with my wingspan.  A happy thing.

Oh yes, and the pool is just pretty - pretty and new.  Nice modern tilework.  The plaster is white and clean, and that is good since you see a lot of it swimming laps.  And when you do backstroke the acoustic ceiling tiles are not warped and water-stained.  Even the turn flags are pink - always a plus! Swimming in that pool was like wearing a fancy new dress when you are sick of the same frumpy old worn one - the kind that you know you look good in and you don't need to ask "Does this pool make me look fat?" It's like strapping a darling new pair of shoes that just fit.  Lucky me.

And so I swam, and it felt great!  Oh how I missed this!  I was a little rusty, but no fish out a water, to be sure.  I felt great all day.  Of course I'll be pooped tonight.  That is a given, but it just feels so good to be back in the swim again, after all this time.  And in a new pool to boot.

I canceled my old gym membership today.

After all, if I am going to be exhausted, I might as well be exhausted and fit, right?  I mean, if I have to have these bags under my eyes, I don't need to have bags on my thighs as well, do I?

We'll see how long this lasts.

So if any of you are looking for a swim partner, you know where I'll be.  But don't all sign up at once.  There are only two lanes.