Swimming under the stars in January

The dis-oriented author is a swimmer. I am not a fast swimmer, but three or four times a week I try to get into the pool to swim a mile. I am a YMCA member and I usually swim at the Y near my house. Since I live in the snow belt, my local Y has an indoor pool.

One of the things I enjoy when I am on the road is swimming in outdoor pools.

This week finds me in Arizona. When I arrived Phoenix was enjoying an unusual cold streak. There was frost and some ice on the ground, the hotel I stayed at had put down salt in the driveway as snowmelt.

This week I went to swim at the Southwest Valley YMCA in Goodyear. This is a new YMCA with a beautiful outdoor Olympic sized pool. Olympic pools are 50 meters long and this one was also 25 meters wide. In the morning the pool is set up for long course (50m) and in the afternoon short course (25m).

I enjoy long course swimming so I went at lunchtime. the water was warm and it was great to swim in the sunshine. Later in the week, I went back to swim in the evening. The night air was cool but the water temp was reported as 82 degrees. It was strange to be swimming while the lifeguards were wearing parkas, hats and gloves.

I found it especially relaxing to swim in the cool air looking up at the stars. My mile seemed to go faster than usual. When I called my wife she told me that it was below zero at home. I think I understand why so many of my fellow Iowans spend their winters here.