The Athlete

Ha Ha Ha, what a joke!
As you know....we have been painting the house. Ashley prepared it while I painted it, (except for the area I couldn't reach). It was great. I got a real work out from it and have felt fantastic all week.
I had been wondering how I could get myself out of the physical slump that has lingered since the shock of my first Canadian winter. I recommend painting the house - although it might not be for everyone.
Well, not wanting to let this new energised me wane and evaporate into not so thin air, I thought about re-joinging a gym. Yes...re-joining. An Australian friend recommended a gym that also happened to exist here in my town. I looked into it, but the Canadian one has no creche (typical) - what is it with Vancouver services and their failure to acknowledge the needs of potential customers? Don't they realise that their client base would improve significantly if they provided the minimal means for women to actually attend their services i.e a free minute or free arm. This particular service claimed that its 30 minute workout was designed for busy working women and "moms" - I guess they just don't need the profits. GRRRRRRR, it is soooo frustrating. (SIGH), but I digress.....
Once a week I have taken Alex and Olivia to the local indoor swimming hole for a play in the kiddie pool. They really love it, and it only cost $2.50 a visit. And since I recently went to the excruciating effort of purchasing the most abhorrent of all garments (bathers), I thought I might as well use 'em.
Last night I fired up; determined to go. The pool opens at 6am and closes at 10:15pm, so one can't really fall back on that convenient old adage that "time prevented me of going".
So there I was, standing at the waters edge at 9:15pm, ready to take the plunge and plow through the water like a torpedo just fired from an enemy warship.
Many may not be aware of this, but it was my childhood fantasy to become an olympic swimmer - the next Lisa Curry (scoff!!). I did actually attend the local swim club whenI was in years 6 and 7. I trained there four nights a week, but it was just a pipe dream really.
Straight off the bat I did 4 laps of breast stroke, revelling in the fact that I was keeping pace with a man in the neighbouring lane - ok he was pushing 70....err....it was a motivating factor ALRIGHT. All in all I managed to do 10 laps of the pool on my first attemp; in a variety of strokes I might add. Pitifully I exited the water at 9:30pm, a full 15 minutes after my hopeful and exuberant entry.
As I staggered back to the change rooms, my heart was working at such a frantic rate that I thought it might splatter hard up against the adjacent wall, if not for my rib cage to contain it.
By the time I started walking to my car a terrible thirst appeared and thoughts of blackening out invaded my almost static mind ("Captain, do you read me.... we are losing transmission... over"). When I finally reached the couch, in the ego-saving privacy of my own home, I collasped in a heap with my feet nesting on a pile of cushions, in the hope that the blood would pool back into my oxygen deprived brain. After a short while I declared to all who cared, that I thought I might just throw up.
YEAH........I am thinking of doing it again tonight.