Frustration with public swimming pools

I thought given California had a pretty good climate, and people like to swim that finding good pools would be easy. Not the case!

For a start, all the pools are 25m (or worse 25 yards, which is about 22m), and there really isn't many of them. I finally found a couple nearby, and they're all outdoors, so not very pleasant in winter and you have to wear lots of sunscreen in summer.

So I finally got time to go to the pool, with the plan to go a couple of times a week during the day. I looked up the address of the pool that looked the nicest, and noticed the public swimming times - 10am - 2pm, then 6-8pm. Bummer, it was about 9am and I had to be at the shelter by 11, so wouldn't get time. It's at a school, so I understand they have some restrictions.

I looked at the 2 public pools in Mountain View, and they are ALSO only open from about 10:30-1:30, then 6-8pm. I called up to see if those hours were just for lap swimming, or if they were the opening hours. They are the only hours they are open. The pool is used for nothing else, why the hell is it closed for most of the day???

I next tried the Stanford University Pool, and once again 10-2, 6-8pm.

So apparently anyone who wants to swim has to all go at the same time during that couple of hour window. Anyone who works can only go for those 2 hours in the evening. I generally have stuff on in the middle of the day.

Every pool in Australia that I've been to is a nice, usually indoor 50m and generally open from 6am - 9pm so everyone can go when it's convenient to them.

In Canberra (population 300,000 or so) within a 10 minute drive of where we lived, I had the option of 4 different good quality pools that were open all day (except AIS which was still open more them pools here despite catering to Olympic swimmer schedules).

I can't believe that with such a big population there is not one pool that is open the entire day. The water at the beach is way too cold to swim in, so there really isn't any options.

Rant over.

Officially off restrictions

I meant to post this on Thursday...

Thursday was exactly 3 months since surgery! That means I am officially off restrictions now - woohoo! I can't believe how fast it's gone. I feel perfectly fine now as well. Well, I have a couple of minor niggles. In my right chest muscle, there's a little spot which hurts when I sneeze. It's like a little pull. So I go "ahchoo OW" when I sneeze... I hope to start swimming soon, maybe that will help stretch it out and get some more movement in there.

The only other niggle is my scar itself, it's a bit tight feeling, it's still a little sore if I try to lie on my stomach - I can only do that for short periods at a time - and there's still a bit at the top that seems to pull on a nerve. They're only very minor things though, and generally I feel great.

I've been for a couple of jogs on the treadmill - jogged 1 mile (1.6km) each time. I'm still struggling a little to get back into study mode, but I'm catching up again, and hope to get ahead by the end of the mid semester break which starts next week. Once I'm caught up I'll get a better routine happening which includes regular exercise.

We're off to San Diego next week for 4 days. We're planning on going to the San Diego Zoo and Sea World which are both supposed to be very good, and the other 2 days we'll spend just relaxing at the beach and doing a bit of exploring.

Otherwise life is quiet - just the way we like it!