Water, Water, Everywhere

As most people know there is no shortage of water here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. For instance, this morning it was pouring from the sky. As I went for my run it was fun to watch the water dance around on the asphalt to the musical sway of the wind. Instead of the water moving down the road it swayed up. As the wind died down it went back to the natural movement of flowing in steady ripples like a brook. It is quite a peaceful and relaxing thing to watch. Of course, I was not in a standstill but rather running as I was taking this in.

However, this is not the entire point of this post but rather the lack of pools in my area. Yes, we get a lot of water here! And perhaps this is the reason for not having many pools. Come summer time everyone either goes to the numerous rivers or to the few lakes around here. So if you can do that, why would you want to go to a pool! I know I really enjoy playing in the river and swimming in the lake, but it is hard at times to get in a good workout. First off, you don't know how far you've swam, second, the water often is quite cold and takes awhile till warm enough to swim in, third, there is often too many boats and people that it can be unsafe to swim, fourth, you shouldn't ever go swim by yourself, and fifth, sometimes you can creep yourself out by letting your mind wander about from the many movies that have been watched. Therefore, by all these reasons, it is often best to get the majority of your swim workouts in at a pool.

The closest pool that I live to and can swim at any time is in Corvallis, which is about a 45 minute drive one way. Or I have the option of swimming at the local high school pools, that have only a few designated lap swim times a few times a week. Here lately, they have cut back the lap swim time because of the high school swim team. So this makes it a bit more difficult especially since I do not swim the same days every week.

Therefore, this is my dilemma of not having enough pools to swim at. But perhaps, one of these days I will just build my own pool and be able to swim anytime I want, day or night! Anyone got a shovel?