Loughborough Ave.

As I was heading down 55 South, I passed the Loughborough Ave. exit and whenever I pass this exit, I can't help but think about when I was exiting to go to my swimming class at the YMCA. I can still hear my swimming teacher Jim say I want you to strive to get to the end of the pool.

Later on, Jim basically threw down the gauntlet and told me that I was not to stop and I was thinking that there was no way that I would make 25 yards doing the front crawl and I didn't make it that time but I didn't put my feet down either; when I felt like I could no longer breathe, I simply starting doing a breaststroke-like action. I'm quite fond of combo styles. If I get tired of doing the breaststroke, I'm liable to resort to the sidestroke about 12.5 yards into the effort.

I was traveling down 55 South because I was headed to the Mehlville pool which also made me remember how Jim and Shannon used to jump right into the water and I'm beginning to think that they had the right idea. Just jump in. Adjusting to the water is worse when you try to, no pun intended, wade in the water. Mehlville tends to keep their water quite chilly and I was staring to ponder the benefits of a wetsuit. Well, today, the water was just right. While the water was right, I wasn't. I struggled to swim 16 laps in one hour.

I had the pool to myself until two girls got in. One girl was about eight or nine years old but rocking the butterfly and back crawl. She rocked about everything as a matter of fact. In fact, she looked like a future Olympian.

I love to watch people swim the butterfly. It's poetry in motion.

Doing Better

I went swimming yesterday even though my arms were still quite sore from Thursday's rock climbing. I completed about 13 laps but can't be sure since I misplaced my lap counter. I sometimes lose count even with the lap counter; c'est la vie.

I'm trying to decide if I should order a new ultra-cool counter or get a used one from Amazon like the one I lost. Maybe I should get a red one which would be a little harder to leave behind.

I went to swim at one of my favorite places which will now be known, from this point on, as "The Poo."

"The Poo" is almost my favorite watering hole but I would really like for the water to be a tad bit warmer. I hear that competitive swimmers like the water cold but cold water is not my cup of tea. I can't imagine why. Of course, I wasn't imagining why when I went to the Wohl center once and the water was very cold. Since I had traveled so far, I stubbornly went ahead and got in the shockingly cold water. Once in, it wasn't so bad since I was continuously moving around but I did have to tell the disappointed woman who had come for water aerobics and who followed me into the locker room to get my opinion about the water that, yes, the water was artic-like.

Mehlville's pool was pretty crowded yesterday. There were two girls from the school district's swimming team. Their black team swimsuits are rather cool with green panther tracks on the suit and swimming cap. The one girl's butterfly stroke is a thing of beauty to behold.

Several kids were taking swimming lessons and the ones who weren't were exuberantly jumping off the creaky diving boards. Twin five-year-olds, who had on bulky floating devices, got into the act and started jumping off the boards too. I was later surprised to see one twin treading water without her float suit. I wish that I had learned to swim as a child.

I also heard the swim team crew talking about how many calories they had possibly burned. I never thought about such things in high school. Although, I'm sure we burned quite a few calories playing basketball.

I also wish that I had paid better attention to nutrition and fitness before. Oprah Winfrey likes to report that Maya Angelou told her "when you know better, you do better." So, here's to doing better.