Night Swimming

If I had written this post two weeks earlier, it would have been titled, 'Sunset Swimming'.

Two weeks ago, when I arrived at the pool at 8 pm, the sun would start its glorious sunset colors about 10 minutes into my swim.  The water would suddenly be illuminated with bright shafts of light and my arms glowed as they sliced through the water.  Everything was golden.

Now, when I arrive at the pool at 8 pm, the sunset has already happened and is now fading away into twilight.  For the first 10 minutes of my swim, everything is dark and murky.  Then, suddenly, the underwater lights switch on.  From then on, my world is separated into two distinct realms, glowing turquoise and velvet black.  My breath cycles become quick glimpses of blackness, while the time my face is in the water is a flickering and beautiful blue.  I love it when the lights kick on, because they highlight the vortexes of bubbles being formed by my hands as they push the water under my body to propel me across my lane.  Those spiraling bubbles can be very distracting!  Tonight, I got so bewitched by them that I forgot to turn my head during my breathing cycle and sucked in a lungful of pool water instead of air!  I came up short, gasping and choking.  How embarrassing!  I was a very conscientious breather after that.

When I stop for a rest after finishing a set of laps, I rest my head back on the pool deck and gaze up into the night sky while I regulate my breathing.  There is one little twinkling star that is always directly above me.  It is so pleasant to see it there, almost as if it was waiting for me.

I will be sad when they install the bubble over the pool in a few weeks.  Then the night sky will be shut out and my workouts in the pool will be a lot less beautiful.  But still fulfilling, I am sure.