Swimming Pool Blues

Recently, I have become a bit bummed out about the swimming pools that are supposed to be available for me to use. One of these, Westside Pool, for which I as a Gainesville citizen share in its funding through my property taxes, waited until the very late date of May 6 to finally open to the public. Then it limited its hours to 3-7 PM weekdays and noon-5 on weekends. On top of that, I would have to pay $3.65 each time I used it. Not that I would, seeing that they apparently don't think that anyone but school children use the pool since they don't ever open unless school's out. Then there's my local YMCA's pool.

I pay out a reasonable sum of money monthly for membership in the YMCA. Having access to their pool is a big thing for me. But on Saturday and Sunday, they host a large scuba diving class, effectively clogging up two thirds of the pool. Aggravating the situation further, they reduce the available swimming lanes on these days from five to three. So it's often impossible to find a time there on the weekend when there is enough space in the pool for me to practice my swimming.

This morning I went to the pool around 11 AM, knowing that the water aerobics class, which also effectively monopolizes half the pool, had already ended. These days I often find the 25-meter swimming lanes full, and today was no exception. Still, I had most of the shallow part of the pool to myself and made good use of it, swimming for 43 consecutive minutes. Part of my swim involves a slow backstroke. I was performing this when I swam right into an old dude who was wading over into the shallow end from one of the lanes. Apparently, he felt that he was so important that he didn't feel the need to show basic courtesy and time himself to avoid me. A-a-a-g-h!

I remember experiencing frustration in the past about being able to find suitable places to run, finally deciding on my own home neighborhood streets as a stable, convenient, and consistently available setting. Perhaps I should follow this example and start showing up in my neighbors' swimming pools!

One unexplored option is the large number of natural springs in the Gainesville vicinity. I think I should start looking into this, keeping in mind of course the travel expenses involved as well as admission fees.

Getting my own swimming pool built is not an option for me due to the expense. I have seen ads on TV for something called an "endless pool", which is a small pool analogous to a treadmill that allows a swimmer to "swim in place" against a generated current. Unfortunately, this also seems awfully pricey. Also, the less expensive above-ground portable pools are not large enough to do me any good with my swimming.

So swimming is just going to have to be an activity that has its own limitations for me. But recognizing this doesn't reduce my frustration.