In all my years of swimming I have never arrived to hear the coach say "We can't get in. The chemicals are off. It's just not safe."
I know this happens from time to time, I just thought it quite possibly would never happen to me. And on a Saturday at 6am for G-d's sake! Of course, Tim was away on a three day ride. This explains a lot. Technically, his record's still clean.
After a rare outing last night with red wine and lasagna I managed to answer my 5:30am alarm this morning, chew down my favorite pre-workout discovery of late (this actually tastes good and gets me through a swim feeling like I've already had two cups of coffee minus that post liquid need to pee), rip myself off the computer after only five minutes of checking the Maya's Mom site, and get to the pool. All this only to be turned away with extreme workout consummation frustration!
I took a deep breath and tried to see it as a blessing. Here are the things that went through my mind:
"I can get a coffee now instead of in an hour."
"I can sit in my car in my driveway and sleep so no one in my family knows I'm actually available to help with surely-by-now-awake children."
"Crap. What I really need to do is go to Safeway and buy more milk."
I went to Safeway. But it wasn't unpleasant. I love the early pre-dawn morning, and this one here in CA is glorius. Not a cloud in the sky and the day promises to be 75 degrees and sunny, just like yesterday (it's FEBRUARY by the way. This is why we pay millions to live in houses with 1.5 bedrooms and no yard).
The shopping center was dark but the muzak was just starting to come on in the center speakers and the floor sweepers in Safeway were putting away their gear. I got to shop nearly alone in a place that is usually so packed I can't keep track of my two unruly boys who attack each aisle as if they were all filled with baby crack (for some reason even the boxes of cat food have to be taken out to feel and disorganize. We don't have a cat and the food isn't appealing. This is all just part of the toddler pull-down-and-wreak-havoc response to all retail experiences I guess).
I saw a fellow teammate, a mom of four grown kids who is twice my age and swims twice as many yards a week as I do, in one of the aisles of Safeway, shopping with the same swimsexual frustration look in her eyes.
"Same idea," I said.
"Hey there," she said. "It was bound to happen someday. Good to get the shopping done at least."
"Yup. Gotta get some milk home to the waking kids."
"Ha," she said. "I'm going back to sleep after this."
"Nice," I said. "Rub it in." We laughed. The day began.
I know this happens from time to time, I just thought it quite possibly would never happen to me. And on a Saturday at 6am for G-d's sake! Of course, Tim was away on a three day ride. This explains a lot. Technically, his record's still clean.
After a rare outing last night with red wine and lasagna I managed to answer my 5:30am alarm this morning, chew down my favorite pre-workout discovery of late (this actually tastes good and gets me through a swim feeling like I've already had two cups of coffee minus that post liquid need to pee), rip myself off the computer after only five minutes of checking the Maya's Mom site, and get to the pool. All this only to be turned away with extreme workout consummation frustration!
I took a deep breath and tried to see it as a blessing. Here are the things that went through my mind:
"I can get a coffee now instead of in an hour."
"I can sit in my car in my driveway and sleep so no one in my family knows I'm actually available to help with surely-by-now-awake children."
"Crap. What I really need to do is go to Safeway and buy more milk."
I went to Safeway. But it wasn't unpleasant. I love the early pre-dawn morning, and this one here in CA is glorius. Not a cloud in the sky and the day promises to be 75 degrees and sunny, just like yesterday (it's FEBRUARY by the way. This is why we pay millions to live in houses with 1.5 bedrooms and no yard).
The shopping center was dark but the muzak was just starting to come on in the center speakers and the floor sweepers in Safeway were putting away their gear. I got to shop nearly alone in a place that is usually so packed I can't keep track of my two unruly boys who attack each aisle as if they were all filled with baby crack (for some reason even the boxes of cat food have to be taken out to feel and disorganize. We don't have a cat and the food isn't appealing. This is all just part of the toddler pull-down-and-wreak-havoc response to all retail experiences I guess).
I saw a fellow teammate, a mom of four grown kids who is twice my age and swims twice as many yards a week as I do, in one of the aisles of Safeway, shopping with the same swimsexual frustration look in her eyes.
"Same idea," I said.
"Hey there," she said. "It was bound to happen someday. Good to get the shopping done at least."
"Yup. Gotta get some milk home to the waking kids."
"Ha," she said. "I'm going back to sleep after this."
"Nice," I said. "Rub it in." We laughed. The day began.
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