My friend Stella Arbeláez Tascón and I subscribed for morning lap swims three times a week for the summer, at the H.O. Dabney Pool (312 Pine Street Leesburg Florida). I might have to miss a couple of lap swims while I am traveling to The Wild Rivers Film Festival, in Oregon, but the lap swims are a great way to start the day.
In the first session, we must have swum for well over an hour. I should have felt exhausted, after coming out of the water, but instead I felt euphoric. A sense of peace sweeps over me after a swim, and I feel ready to tackle the tasks for the day.
There are showers in the men’s and women’s rooms to rinse away the chlorine. The chlorine was making Stella’s long hair start too turn blonde. My stark white hair, what remains of it, refused to turn blonde. It might have been nice to have a hint of blonde since I am planning a long trip to Germany, and I would blend in better with my Nordic ancestors.
I tried swimming freestyle, but I really don’t like having my face in the water. I need to blow bobbles out of my nose, so I feel that I get winded too fast. I also seem to always breath on the upward stroke of my right arm. I am sure that with a few lessons I would get much better at this fast swimming style. I prefer to swim with a modified butterfly style. It is modified in that I don’t submerge my face with each stroke. My version of the swimming style looks more like a frog swimming, although a frog is probably is more graceful.
I also like to swim on my back, spreading my arms like Christ to check that I am not steering off course into the floating ropes. There are blue and white flags over the pool at each end,. When doing the back stroke, I use those flags to let me know to raise my arms to be prepared to touch the wall thus saving me from crashing my head into the cement.
As we were leaving the lap pool, the water was turned on with the water slide and it gushed out a top speed. Kids and parents, who have been waiting at the front gate rushed inside as we walked out the front gates to the parked Prius, and the place started buzzing with chaotic activity.