Swimming & Snow

Two quick things...

I finally took the plunge (haha) and went swimming at the gym last night. I mentioned earlier how stoked I was to finally find a gym with a lap pool because I swam competitively in high school and wanted to get back into it (and gear up for a triathlon in the spring.) Well, it's been a few weeks, but yesterday I dug out my old Speedo from my life guarding days, found my swim cap, purchased a new set of goggles, and hit the pool. Turns out that Lycra doesn't hold up terribly well when stuffed at the bottom of a drawer for 12 years. (Why I held on to a Speedo for 12 years is another matter altogether...) But droopy, see-through suit be damned! I was ready for some pool action, and it felt great!

I swam for a solid 30 minutes and felt pretty good about lapping most of the old men in the pool repeatedly. (Of course, the guy in my lane kept stopping to talk to the guy in the next lane about social security, so maybe me lapping them wasn't all that big of an accomplishment...) I busted out some of my high school drills, did some laps with the kick board and pull buoys, and finished up with a 400m swim (just 100m shy of my high school race distance.) At the end I was beat, and it blows my mind that I swam for 2 hours straight, 5 days a week, during the swim season in high school! How times have changed. Once I get myself a new (properly fitting and non-see through) swimsuit, I'll be back to make this a regular part of my fitness regimen. And the best part? Last night was the first time my knees and/or hips and/or wrist and/or back haven't ached post-workout in ages. Gotta love that low impact exercise... maybe the old guys are on to something.

And, on a separate note, a new little nugget to file under "things I love about Texas." I lamented the insanely hot weather we get 'round these parts pretty consistently the first month or two after we moved here. Well, winter has officially arrived, and the highs this week have been consistently in the low 50s (which warrants heavy wool coats, scarves, hats, and mittens for many Texans.) On Friday, they're forecasting a high of 38 (gasp!) and the possibility of rain mixed with snow. The punchline? My office already has an inclement weather plan in place for Friday, which we discussed this morning at an all-staff meeting. I am not joking.

Now, I come from an area of the country that is not exactly known for handling winter weather particularly well. Last winter, Portland and Seattle got an unprecedented 18 inches of snow, and both cities (as well as the 180 miles of interstate freeway between the two) were entirely shut down for a full two weeks while the mayors of both cities frantically begged mid-western and east coast cities for sand and de-icing agent. It wasn't pretty. But here in Austin, winter weather paranoia hits a new high. We have a weather emergency hotline set up in our office (again, I am not kidding) that we can all call into on Friday morning to determine if the office is closed or if we should brave the elements and come in to work. Everyone is already preparing to take their laptops home on Thursday night. And I love it! No judgement here. I say bring on some 34 degree weather with mixed snow and rain, and I am going to enjoy me a snow day!