I’ve been spending a lot more time swimming laps these past two months because I’m really, really trying to actually stay in shape consistently and it’s just too dang hot to run. The local Y is only a five minute drive and 10 minute bike ride away, and its pool is decent.
Being in a pool — any pool — connects me to my childhood. Like swimming is some sort of secret I share with a much younger Modern Gal. Like every lap I swim is tunneling me back to a time where I killed summer days pretending to be the Little Mermaid or when I was a camp counselor trying to teach kids how to blow bubbles while keeping their heads in the water.
Except, no matter how far I swim I never quite get there, and when I get out of the pool I’m back to being a 29-year-old who swims because she’s trying to maintain her health and not because it’s something fun to do.
word. After a good workout I try to always warm down with some playtime. I always wonder what the other Y patrons think of my handstands and back flips, but I love to play.
Does it surprise you how much swimming wears you out? I’m always SO tired and hungry after I get out of any body of water. I must have been in great shape as a kid, because I also spent every day of summer in a pool.