14 October 2009

Swimming in the rain

We had a bit of a storm roll through here. I'm a sailor and was more interested in securing my boat than what effect it would have on my swimming but I'll admit to a pretty low-level anxiety about what it would be like getting to the pool at 7AM on a stormy morning.

Well, it wasn't as bad as I expected. The best part was I had the pool to myself; the Masters team must have cut out early and my usual poolmates were nowhere to be seen. So I jumped in and swam, figuring that if Chopstick can do meets in the rain, I can swim for 30 minutes and retreat to a warm, dry locker room.

Well, it was nice for about 5 minutes. It was dark and gloomy out and the pool was really well lit so I could see the bottom clearly and it was a pretty calming experience. But then I started thinking (very often my downfall). Why wasn't anyone else here? If I were to drown, how long would it take until someone even discovered me? If I can't see anything on land, who knows who could be lurking behind those redwood trees!

So I just started swimming faster to get it over with sooner. It started getting a bit lighter and people started showing up. A couple of people I'd never seen and then finally one of the usual suspects. All was becoming normal....except for the 20MPH wind and horizontal rain. But that doesn't concern a swimmer. Until said swimmer needs to get out of the water and that time was fast approaching.

As I finished my 39th and then 40th laps, I started to plan my escape. Do I run to the locker room ducking to avoid the rain? Do I make it a two-step process, stopping at the hot tub for a quick warmup? Or do I walk confidently for the 20 feet over to the locker room like a mature adult should?



I decided on the last one, walked tall over to the locker room and ducked into the sauna where I'd stashed my towel 30 minutes earlier and hugged it for dear life to warm up.

5 comments:

  1. lucky you - your pool looks fantastic! No outdoor pools near me now till next April:(

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  2. I agree with Aqua Marina - even on a dark and stormy day, that is a beautiful pool. Good job on going to the pool when it would have been much easier to invent excuses otherwise.

    -TracyB
    MastersSwimmersBlog

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  3. that's weird because it just kind of looks like a pool to me. Maybe it's the trees.

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  4. For me, the flags make it.

    I guess those flags serve some sort of purpose, like telling you how far you are from the end of the pool, but to a non-competitive swimmer like me, they look like they're announcing some kind of sale on poolside furniture.

    And I'm always searching for stuff on sale, so this looks like a very inviting pool to me.

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  5. Every couple of weeks they hold a flea market selling off all the lost pool toys and goggles they find in the diving well. Keeps the club fees low.

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