Finally - Back To The Gym

I checked the calendar this morning (yes, I keep notes of this kind of thing). The last time I was at the gym was on March 14th, more than three months ago. I weighed four pounds less, so my Stay-at-Home weight gain is a total of four pounds if I choose to date it in that way. But more than three months without the gym after years and years of being there at least five days a week is monumental! The world has changed a lot during those three+ months. 

Among many things I try to keep up with are graphic arts and
logos. This "Logo of the Year" by The Typeo is a wonderful
nod to all that's wrong about this year so far. I had to share with
all of you. Of course, it could be better, but it's quite expressive,
don't you think? LOL

I went over to the gym before starting my shopping yesterday. I wanted to walk through the halls, see the new locker-room set-up, and visit the pool. I skipped going into the gym part completely - I'm not going to do floor work, or sweat on the bikes, or do stretching or yoga. I want to get back into the water - my comfort place. I was comfortable by what changes had been instituted. 

The floors and carpets of the gym have a lot of "Walk
This Way" stickers to keep people distanced through
the hallways. They also repainted the walls (a
lovely cheery yellow color on one wall) and
cleaned the carpets thoroughly (they were
replaced last year). 

Lots of stickers telling us where to walk and where to stand, check-in in the alcove entryway instead of in the larger reception area (which is now cleared of the chairs, couches and seating areas it once had), and in the locker room, there were a LOT of changes. Although the showers are pretty much the same, the lockers are severely minimized - large spans of lockers blocked off by zip ties, between available lockers in every space. I can see this becoming a problem down the line, so I think I'll opt to rent one of the 1/2-sized lockers (if there are any available). I checked with the "Powers Behind the Desk" as I left and those rent for approx $9/month - pretty affordable. 

There have been swimmers each day, and hopefully we won't end
up stepping on each other's toes to try and be one of the
elite ten people allowed in for the 6:00 am hour. That's my
biggest fear. I'm still not as fast on my feet as I was in March. 

I ran into a swimming friend as I was entering the Y yesterday. He said they had eight people on Monday and seven on Tuesday and Wednesday. The maximum number we're allowed to have swimming in the pool is ten, so we're OK on population so far. I had a nice long chat with the life guard. It was great to see Beth again - we've known each other for many years now. She reminded me that the ten-person limit is firm, but we're also all hoping that we can expand the hours and the numbers by the end of the summer. She thinks the YMCA system will stick with current procedures until all of their branches have re-opened, which won't be until sometime in August. 

Talking with the life guard, she thinks the outdoor pool won't be open
at all this year. She puts it down to expense - it's VERY expensive to
operate that pool - increased personnel to make sure it's safe to operate.
She said a lot of memberships were cancelled or lapsed during the
past months, so income is tight for the system. 

All things considered, I feel much more comfortable about returning to the water today. I'm still disorganized, but I'll manage to streamline in a day or two of practice. I'm back to waking up at 3:15 am, in the hope that eventually the start time for swimming will be 5:00 am once again. In the meantime, it gives me a chance to have breakfast at 4:30 am instead. I guess I'll live with that. 

Have a wonderful Thursday. Be good to others, stay safe, wear your mask if you're out and about, and be kind. I'll be back tomorrow.