Thursday, January 20, 2022

Reservations - It Makes For a Merry Dance

I ended up with swimming reservations for both Thursday and Friday. Considering carefully, I cancelled the Friday and I'm swimming today. My Friday is packed - I have my live cooking class in the morning and will try to watch this week's Project Runway episode on Peacock in the afternoon. So I thought the lesser time necessary for running on the treadmill would be a better choice for tomorrow. 




When I first wanted to resume swimming several 
years ago, I looked at several gyms in my area 
as well as the YMCA. I decided on the Y because 
I really liked their pool, as well as the other 
things they offered. They weren't fancy, but 
they had everything I needed. I joined as 
a 60th birthday gift to myself, and resumed 
a life-long love affair with swimming. 



The YMCA listened to us, and expanded our reserved swimming slots on M, W & F from 10 to 15 swimmers. I assume the software was working through those changes when I tried to make my Friday reservation, and that's why I was unable to make them. But, that seems to be resolved. Our lifeguard, Beth, said that Monday, Wednesday and Friday are the busiest days for the 5:00 am group, and I can well believe it. 




I really love our outdoor pool, and we're one of the few 
YMCA's who still have one. It's Olympic size and is 
reserved for lap swimming in the early morning
hours. What takes 30 laps for me indoors takes 16
laps outside. The disadvantage is the late Summer/early
Fall dayswhen it's darned cold in the outside air. They
usually only have the indoor OR the outdoor pool open
for swimming, not both, so we end up shivering before 
jumping into the water. 



Normally we have Rosemary in Lane 5, I'm in Lane 4 - often alone, but sometimes sharing with Mary, Lane 3 usually has two of the "Three Amigos". If the third one is there, sometimes I'll end up sharing a lane with him, but more frequently, they work out with the three of them in a single lane. They've been swimming together for years and have their routines totally figured out. Lane 2 is for a couple of older men who are exercising and swimming to overcome leg injuries or surgery, and Lane 1 is for the water aerobics people who sometimes spill over into Lane 2. 




The reservation system is new - since Covid - and 
it's taken all of us some adjustment to get used 
to. Yes, I could show up without a reservation, 
and I'd probably get in because not everyone 
actually shows up on time, but I don't want 
to take the chance of interrupting my workout 
if/when the person reserving the session 
arrives. 



On a busy day, they sometimes had to turn down people wanting reservations. Having the number expand to 15, doesn't necessarily mean the swimming lanes will be busier. Often it means more water aerobics people will be attending. Oh, and Gail - we can't forget Gail. She's been coming later, focusing on the 6:00 am time slot. Fortunately that doesn't impact me or Rosemary, but it does impact our friend Meg, who seems to get chased out of Lane 5 by Gail who insists on using that lane. That's very unfair, but we're leaving it up to the two of them to work out. I come down strongly in favor of Meg - a long time friend and neighbor - she lives only two blocks away from me, so sometimes we see each other outside of the gym too. 


So, that's the pool setup. Today, on a Thursday, I'll have Rosemary, Meg and Gail, maybe Mary and Jeanne,. as well as the water aerobics people (Mark, a delightful Oriental woman whose name I never remember, and Connie). I'll be happy to get into the water, since it's darned COLD outside today (-8 F -22.2 C) so the water, no matter what temperature it actually is, will seem wonderfully warm. Have an excellent Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. Spread some love and kindness today to help our world heal. 




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