Sometimes we eat to provide nourishment for our bodies to swim and other times we simply just swim so we can eat good food and to celebrate. There have been three notable occasions lately that confirm that not only do I swim for exercise and friendship but I also swim to celebrate and enjoy good food without (much) guilt.
Business took me to Austin, Texas for a couple nights. So where does one go for a swim when in Austin? Barton Springs…of course! The Barton Spring Pool is a massive outdoor pool in Zilker Park that is fed by a natural spring. Not sure if it man made or not but it’s an oblong and naturally shaped pool that is about 250 meters long. The water is reliably between 68-72 degrees.
As this was my first time swimming outdoors this year the water felt a bit brisk at first but felt quite nice pretty quickly. I suspect the water temp was the lower end of the range. I swam a lazy 2000 meters enjoying being outdoors again. Post swim I showered up in the unique outdoor locker room and set my sights and stomach on my next stop. Voodoo Donuts!
Voodoo Donuts was started in Portland, Oregon but has an outpost in Portland’s “keeping it weird” sister city of Austin. A bacon maple bar was all I needed to recharge the body…yum! Very good but I couldn’t eat the whole thing
On my return from Austin I stopped by one of my home pool’s, MIT’s Z-Center for an afternoon workout. Much to my surprise and somewhat dismay I didn’t realize they had converted the pool to long course. I really like long course but it often times requires a mental mind shift. In addition, the workout I had planned in my mind was a short course workout~oh well.
I was starved post swim as I hadn’t eaten all day and to take the edge off my mild mental long course anguish I took a short stroll to MIT’s premier eating establishment…Anna’s Taqueria. Nothing settles a post workout belly than an Anna’s burrito with jalapenos and a pineapple Jarrito!
Swimming, eating and celebrating often go hand in hand and that is exactly what we did in Los Angeles a couple weeks later. The reason for this trip was to celebrate Ryan’s masters graduation from University of Southern California.
Before we could eat and enjoy the three day celebration it was important to get a vigorous workout in at the Santa Monica Aquatic Center. It was a short drive from our great Abbott Kinney bungalow. An early morning swim in a 50 meter outdoor pool perfectly set the stage for the rest of the weekend.
There plenty of opportunities to eat and celebrate from a family dinner at Geoffrey’s in Malibu overlooking the Pacific with family to a bacon, egg and cheese from eggslut to the Fight On chocolate cake!
There was the massive graduation ceremony on campus at Alumni Park and then the masters ceremonies at the Galen Center later in the day. The highlights of the weekend however was spending time with family and friends and celebrating Ryan’s success.
It is weekends like these that I realize as busy humans we need to be much better about taking the time to stop and celebrate our accomplishments both big and small! You can certainly celebrate without eating but, its more fun to eat…so remember~swim to eat!
Goggle Reflections 