Tag Archives: YMCA

Go Jump in the Lake

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The swimming pool at the YMCA is supposed to be open today.

I am absolutely thrilled, because as expected, I hardly exercised at all when the pool was closed. I don’t understand how you gym rats can stay so dedicated and keep on going to the gym every day, but I admire your willpower! I only went once and did some stationary biking.

Then I realized that I would have to do twice as much laundry if I went to the gym every day.

I’ve missed swimming, though. I haven’t slept as well, I haven’t had as much energy and my sleep schedule has gone goofy again. I feel flabby, and worse, I feel like eating all the time. It is not good.

But happily, it’s over! The pool awaits, I have a fresh clean swimming suit and I’m so excited to go back!

Note: The water is warm and the pool smells lemony fresh! (They probably cleaned the glass railing or something.)

Face Down on the Floor at Avalon

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Last night I ended up lying down on the floor in the middle of a Worthington business, with about 10 women around me watching me demonstrate, on dry land, a breaststroke.

It was a weird day.

I went to get my haircut at Avalon, and asked them for their advice because I was sick to death of my hair. They found a cut in a magazine that they figured would work well, and then they set out to do my hair. But they also had questions.

I’ve lost about 23 pounds from swimming at the YMCA lately and everybody wanted to know how I did it. They had all kinds of questions…

Do I participate in the water aerobics class? No, but I’ve thought about it. Last time I checked I had some scheduling conflicts and couldn’t join. … what changes to my diet had I made? None, apart from skipping lunch rather often because I swim over my lunch hour. … how did it affect me? I have actual muscles in my arms (which I hadn’t seen for 10 years) and I can carry things without getting tired right away. I’ve also gone from a size 24 to 18. … what stroke do you use? Breaststroke and occasionally I just kick with my arms out ahead of me like Superman.

…How do you do the breaststroke?

Well, I couldn’t really describe that, and my feeble attempts to show them while in the chair, cape wrapped around me, were pathetic. So I agreed to show them after the haircut.

I think they were surprised when I actually did.

Out with the Old Y, In with the New Y

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Being a reporter sometimes seems like the best job in the world, because occasionally I get to experience things most people never get to do, like flying in a B-17 plane from World War II. That was the closest to being Superman I’ll ever get. Once, I got to ride in a hovercraft, grinning like a maniac while the thing sped from the parking lot to the icy lake to the open waters without a pause.

Last week I got a sneak peek at the new YMCA and aquatic center at Worthington’s Minnesota West Community and Technical College, and I spent most of the tour wriggling in excitement like a five-year-old at a county fair. Fortunately, I had the video camera’s tripod along with me, so my footage wasn’t filmed in Wobble-O-Vision.

To see the video, and get a sneak peek of the new YMCA, go to http://www.dglobe.com/event/videos/.

You’ll be hearing a lot about the new YMCA this week from the Daily Globe, and you’ll be seeing some gorgeous photos too, because I took the tour along with the Globe’s photographer, Brian Korthals. He probably thinks I’m crazy, going around a huge YMCA with a video camera and grinning like an idiot.

But I go to the YMCA every weekday for a swim. I’ve lost more than 20 pounds, my blood pressure has gone down, and I now have actual muscles in my arms for the first time in 10 years. The people at the Y have been wonderful and supportive, staff and members alike. I even enjoy the giggly, occasionally shrieking little girls who sometimes share the locker room with the adults.

The new YMCA will mean a lot to a lot of people in Worthington and Nobles County.

I could go on for hours about the ginormous gymnasium, the kid-friendly children’s gym, the locker rooms with actual shower curtains or the spacious workout room with all the equipment I have no idea how to use (but I’m sure 10 helpful Y members would explain to me the moment I asked) but what really caught my attention was the pool. The pool is in a much larger room, and has six lanes (up from four), a diving board, a climbing wall and two water slides, one for adults and older kids and one, shaped like a frog, for the pre-school set. There are even a few little fountains in the kids’ part of the pool.

When I went swimming on Friday, something on the old YMCA’s roof had gone wrong and it was raining into the pool. Actually, it was like someone had opened a faucet from the ceiling, and water from that day’s rain and snow was pouring into the pool. They were talking about going up to the roof and checking on it when I wandered out of the building after my (rainy) swim.

In its time, the old YMCA meant a lot to a lot of people too. But as one of the newer Y members, I’m looking forward to the unrainy ceiling, the temperature-controlled locker rooms and the pool large enough that we don’t have to swim two to a lane most days.

And pretty soon, the new YMCA’s halls, too, will be echoing with the sound of giggling and occasionally, shrieking children, just as it should be.

Dirty Words

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As I was heading into the locker room prior at the YMCA to my daily swim Tuesday, I accidentally let slip a dirty word.

"I’m so glad we’re back to _____ hours," I said, merrily swinging my bag back and forth. The two nice people at the counter turned and stared at me as if I had gone stark, staring mad.

"You mean fall hours," one of them said frostily.

I flinched, realizing what I’d said, and immediately apologized profusely.

"I am so sorry. I should know better. Yes, fall hours."

FALL hours! I meant FALL hours! I didn’t mean to mention that other season which comes after autumn and leaves us under a bunch of s__w and i__. I didn’t mean to mention the season with s__wplows and skis and mittens and scarves and shoveling the s__w from the sidewalk!

I didn’t mean to say the w-word!

What if there had been children present?

Why Ask Y?

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I haven’t mentioned going to the Worthington YMCA for a long time, but I do still go and swim every single weekday, unless I have an appointment over the noon hour.

Today I tried on a dress that hasn’t fit for a while, and shock! it actually fit.

I wore it to work, to the bemusement of my coworkers, one of whom wondered if I had found some wiles somewhere.

Nope! I just found a dress I didn’t have to go shopping in order to get. One of my old pairs of pants fits again, too.

And you know what the best part is?

Everyone here at the Globe has been super supportive, and everyone at the YMCA has been super supportive too. Nobody’s ever rolled their eyes at me or given any hint that they thought I would never be able to do it, no one has ever eyed me in a way that said "Yeah, right, lardbutt" and everyone smiles, waves and says something encouraging when I’m about to go to the Y.

If it weren’t for the folks at the Y and the Globe, I seriously doubt I’d have been able to stick with the swimming.

Thank you all so much!

Healthiest Fat Girl in Worthington?

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The title of this blog is what I was aiming to be when I started going to the YMCA to swim every day, and while I don’t think I’m quite there yet, I am getting better.

My arms are thinner and my lower legs and arms are actually exhibiting muscle tone. They haven’t done that for a long, long time, probably since I was in sports in 10th grade.

My right arm doesn’t get tired anymore when I blowdry my hair in the morning, and neither arm gets tired after I wash my hair.

My clothes continue to get looser, which is a problem, but it’s a good problem and eventually I would have had to buy new pants anyway.

I can run up one flight of stairs without wheezing and two flights without getting significantly out of breath.

I look in the mirror every day and think: Huh, my hips look smaller today, or wow, my thighs aren’t nearly as fat as they used to be.

My glasses even feel loose on my head.

The muscles on my lower legs are now visible when I stand up.

I can sing while I walk.

All this without dieting.

Which brings me to the bit I’m still a little worried about. I don’t know whether my blood pressure has gone down at all, and since I’m still eating bad stuff, I can’t really expect that it has.

However, much progress has been made.

And I still go to the YMCA and swim, every single weekday, and it is still fun.

Malfunctioning Goggles? No.

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As soon as I got into the pool today, I realized something was wrong with my goggles, because the water wasn’t as clear as usual.

Actually, it turned out that there wasn’t anything wrong with my goggles at all. It was just new water in the pool, making the water look a bit murkier. I was surprised at the dream-like effect it had on the swimming experience, though. It made everything seem a bit remote and strange, and because I can’t hear much with water in my ears either, it seemed very surreal.

I swam for about five minutes longer than I meant to.

Guess What I Found!

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Guess what I found! That’s right, I found the black swimming cap that I’d lost.

Of course, that means that I now own three swimming caps, one yellow, one red and one black, but oh well, that means there’ll always be a nice dry one available, I suppose.

In other news, I’m starting to have a new problem.

My pants are too big.

Normally when my pants don’t fit it means I’m getting fatter, but this time, despite the fact that I am doing no actual exercising (just swimming, which is fun and therefore does not count), I am losing a bit of tummy here and there. Despite not doing any ab workouts or exercises. Despite, as far as I can tell, not having any actual abs.

This is a good problem to have, but I don’t really want to spend a fortune on a new wardrobe, either, so I’m going to have to figure something out before I lose a few more inches and my pants start falling down so far I look like a hip-hop artist. And I can’t wear belts, either, so that option is out.

Possibly I may have to find safety pins.

Floating in Nothingness Forever

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Today when I went swimming at the YMCA the music wasn’t on, at least for the first 20 or so minutes I was there.

For most people, that probably wouldn’t be a problem, but for me it caused a bit of concern.

I liked it, at first, because it was terribly peaceful just hearing the splish, sploosh, splish, sploosh as the 3-4 swimmers paddled, swam or bounced (I believe he’s doing physical therapy or else water aerobics) back and forth.

The problem is me, or more specifically, my defective, misshapen eyeballs.

As you all know, I can’t see the hands on the clocks at the Y without my glasses on, and of course I don’t swim with my glasses on. The music (some of which I like, some of which I really dislike) helps give me an idea of how long I’ve been swimming so that I don’t have to get out of the pool, retrieve the glasses and check the time.

Without the music, I felt like I could have gone on swimming forever, or at least until the Y kicked me out of the pool. Again, not really a problem, but I have to go back to work at some point or my boss will get really annoyed. Somehow I seriously doubt "But they didn’t have music on at the Y!" is a good excuse for missing work.

But then someone turned on the music (Bryan Adams’s "Everything I Do") and I squinted up at the clock to find out how long it had been, and guessed how long I had left, and finished out the song and got my chlorine and tangerine (shampoo) scented self back to work.

Also, I discovered today that I could adjust the nose strap on my goggles to make them fit better.

Yes, it took me that long, but don’t laugh too hard–remember that I don’t look at the goggles except when my glasses are off, and of course when my glasses are off I’m lucky if I can put the goggles on at all without hurting myself. Also, I lost my first pair of cheap goggles not that long ago, so I haven’t had these for very long.

So my face isn’t as incorrectly shaped as I had feared, and my goggles (slightly more expensive than the first pair, but vastly superior, purchased from Center Sports) are much better than I thought.

Wind Destroys Reporter’s Hair, Film at 11

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I inadvertently became a fan of Flock of Seagulls today on my way back from the YMCA.

Walking just one block resulted in a hairstyle that normally can only be produced by using at least 2.3 cans of Aqua Net. Fortunately I brought a brush to work as part of my swimming kit, so apart from the gals in the front office over the noon hour, no one collapsed into paroxysms of laughter at the sight of me.

According to the Weather Underground, it’s 43 degrees out, but it feels like 32 due to the windchill. I can’t attest to the 43 but I sure do think the 32 bit is accurate.

Most of the time when I come back from the Y I crave a hot cup of coffee, on days when it’s cold like this, but of course I can’t have any caffeine in the afternoon. I may make tea instead, but the procedure’s a bit fussier.