Topless

For those of you with R rated minds don’t go there with there with the title as this is a swimming blog.

Across the country especially in places where winter can or seems to reign supreme May is an important month. Pools that have bubbles (covers/tops) tend to go “topless” meaning the bubbles come off and swimmers can enjoy swimming outdoors.

For some reason winter felt long this year. Not only did we have “winter 1”, but “winter 2, 3 and 4”. The common consensus was that Bend didn’t enjoy the typical blue sky days we are use to but tended to be grey or overcast like on the “other side of the mountains”.

For Juniper Park Aquatic Center lap swimmers our time had come-the bubble was coming off-very exciting! The pool was to be closed for 5 days due to bubble removal. A tad bit disconcerting for many lap swimmers. Fortunately, our Parks & Rec department over delivered and the pool opened two days early-yay!

The positive and sunny pool deck vibe was totally noticeable on swimmers faces with the anticipation of a season of outdoor swimming finally upon us.

Jumping in the pool for the first time with the sun shining on my back during laps felt great! I swear its easier to stay in the water longer with the bubble off. In anticipation, of this big day I bought a new swim suit (an annual tradition) and brought out the mirrored goggles.

It’s time to buckle down and begin training in earnest for the Vikingsholm swim (10.6 miles) in Lake Tahoe. Perfect timing with the bubble removal creating a sense of excitement, newness and change.

Really looking forward to the outdoor swimming season this year.

While I may have whinged a bit about the extended winter there were some positives too. First, I got some extra days of skiing in this year; 35 days and 285,000 vertical feet of skiing. Enjoyed some great spring skiing and spectacular views and summit laps.

And second, during one of our false springs I did the Bend Salmon Fun Run. It was my first 10k in I don’t know, something like 7 or 8 years. Actually, I kinda enjoyed myself running along the river and likely felt prouder about finishing it than I should have (I only had a handful of 2 mile training runs in before). The medals were kinda cool too and I got 4th in my division (there were only 5 people)!

Living in Bend ain’t so bad…even if winter felt a little longer this year.