Saturday Morning Swim
June 10, 2017
This swim started out in the most perfect way, and ended with an argument. Let’s start with perfect, first. I got a parking spot in the mini lot next to the pool – win! The weather was warm but not hot – win! I arrived to hop into my own lane – win! I switched lanes 15 minutes in advance to accommodate the deep water aquasize class starting at 11:00 am – win! I started my last set and got ¾ of the way through it – and this is when things got tricky.
The area that I moved into included 6 lanes that were open to the public for lap swim. I noticed that it was just myself and four other people swimming, but we each had our own lane (tiny win!) so I didn’t think much of it. With a few hundred yards left to swim, I heard someone yelling “OK, let’s move on!!” but assumed that it was a family, so I kept swimming. I finished that 150 pull, stood up in the lane, and had a man ask me to get out, that lap swim was over for us. The same message was delivered to the person in the lane next to me. We looked at each other, clearly confused, and asked what was going on.
Before I arrived at the pool that morning, I had checked hours and the City’s website clearly said that public lap swim lasted until 12:00 pm. The man on the deck was saying he had it at 11:00 am. Since he wasn’t a lifeguard I told him to have a lifeguard tell us that, and I also told him I checked the pool’s website earlier that morning and it had information different from what he was saying. The person next me confirmed what I said, and we both took off for another swim.
Just because I'm stubborn, here is the date stamp of when I saved the website's screen shot later that afternoon!! (!!!) !!!
That was interrupted by a woman (who I later found out worked there) who said the hours had changed that day, and she had personally changed it on the website. I repeated what I said to the man on the deck, and he started getting very defensive and shouty. The person next to me was out of the pool at that point, so I got out, and the man continued to tell us to get out of the way. I looked at the woman and said that she needed to get the man under control, again explained what I saw that morning, and that I didn’t appreciate the man’s tone of voice.
That statement immediately turned him on the defensive, and that’s when I realized the group of parents and kids in the background; this man was a swim coach for children, and here he was acting like a jerk! I also noticed some of the other people who had been in the other lanes looking at their phones and showing the woman what it said. She said “well there is a mix-up” and that was that.
I marched off to the locker room to get cleaned up, and after the shower noticed a sign posted on the large mirror stating the hour changed she said had happened. However, the hour change was going to be effective tomorrow! Argh!
I took the sign down, and after finishing up, went into the lobby. I called her over and apologized for my frustrated tone, and she apologized, and said that other people were corroborating my story about the hours. I then showed her the sign and she shrugged here shoulders. I looked out to the pool and there were four tiny kiddos swimming, one to a lane, in an area that allowed for 8 lanes. Double argh!
Where are the kids!?! I was kicked out for this? Blah.
In the end, the experience was eye-opening for me. I use the Culver Plunge for both public lap swim and a private coached swim with SCAQ. I can see both sides of the coin; it just so happened I was on the public side that morning. The experience has made me think (a lot) about public space that becomes private. Is that good? It is good if the public makes good money from the temporary privatization? How does it help the public? Or harm the public? At least I have a lot to think about during my SCAQ swims!
The Workout:
- 4 x 250 free
- 3 rounds 100 mixed stroke and 150 pull