Swimming

The other day I bought myself real swimmers and real goggles. Meaning swimmers that won't start falling down my arms as soon as I dive in a pool, and goggles that aren't my scuba diving mask. They have sat in a bag, along with a towel, in the boot of my car for a week. Today I thought it was about time they started paying for themselves. So I went to a pool after work. I really wanted to turn around and go home, but the car seemed to be heading towards the pool on its own. I didn't even know where the pool was, but I ended up there without having to look at the map. Maybe my car is really clever - and is really telling me that my fat ass needs some exercise. But. The stupid car picked the filthiest pool in town. That may be partly my fault - I should have bought black tinted goggles instead of clear - then I wouldn't be able to identify every bug, bandaid, hair tie and you-don't-want-to-KNOW-what-else on the bottom of the pool. Worse - a lot of this debris was neutrally bouyant (scuba-dive speak for hovering in the middle of the water column) so I had to swim through it - staying on top of the water seems to be an issue for me. It was kinda cool, though because it wasn't crowded at all. There was only me and one other guy in my lane so I could go as slow as was necessary (very slow was very necessary), and pretty much take up the whole lane. However, I had to stay at opposite ends of the pool from this guy because at one point I was taking a break (okay, each time I touched the wall I had to stop) and the guy swam up behind me and stopped, panted and then kept going. And his breath was easily the worst breath I have ever smelled in my entire life. No lie. And I used to be a dental assistant! The second time I saw him approach, I thought, "nah, it wasn't that bad" - then I passed out. I think when I came to, he was half way down the pool again. The third time, I wasn't taking any chances - I actually took a deep breath before he reached the wall, then went under water! And stayed under water for a good ten seconds, examining strands of hair and flakes of skin, until I knew he was gone.

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Note to self: find a cleaner pool. Avoid smelly swimmers. Swim as fast as this chick by next month.