Well, there’s a reason the title is in quotes…it’s not really about a fountain, but it does certainly concern water so read on……..

The day we got back from our trip to Paso and Carmel, the community pool finally opened. I had pretty much lost all hope of it happening this year, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I went in that very first day and swam one celebratory lap with the hope of starting up again (until it closes down for the season, this year, at the end of October as it’s not heated). I started the next day and did 20 laps, and the plan was to add two a day till I reached 72 which is a little bit over a mile (it’s a 25 yd. pool). I even bought a brand new set of bone conduction earphones as simply swimming laps is really really boring. The H2O audio TRI Multi-sport. https://h2oaudio.com/products/h2o-audio-tri-waterproof-open-ear-headphones-for-triathlon are all that I hoped for. I can drag and drop audio files from my Mac, but more importantly I can connect them via bluetooth to my phone and simply add the music from there. Long story short, they are so much more comfortable than my old SwimP3 set that had to hook up to the strap on the goggles and had very difficult to work buttons.

Well…with the music it didn’t take long to reach 50, then 60 laps and finally after less than a month (mostly swimming 5-6 days a week) I hit the “magic” 72. Just the other day I even added to that and hit first 80, then 82 laps (here’s the breakdown). It certainly is not going to scare Katie Ledecky or Michael Phelps (even if one day they subscribe to my blog), but it’s not too shabby for a septuagenarian.

That brings me back to the point of the title. When I was running on a regular basis there were always days where I really didn’t want to lace up and go, even if I ended up doing it, it was a struggle some days. There is never a day where I am not excited to walk down to the pool and get in the water, fire up the tunes and start swimming. I thought about that the other day while swimming (as was the case with running, I do my best thinking while exercising), and it hit me…There are so many incredibly good memories associated with swimming for me. My dad, Uncle Dom, Far Rockaway, the HS swim team (I was on it, but not very competitive). When I was the size of a small planet, it was still something I could do easily (in fact, it’s more work now as “fat floats” and having lost significant weight I have to work harder at staying flat on the water). There is so much peace to simply hearing your breathing along with the music and gliding gracefully through the water (and believe me, moving gracefully on land is not my strong point). Having cracked the “miracle mile” I now simply swim till I don’t want to or until a prescribed playlist ends, or until I get tired. Regardless of the “timing” (most days, if you’re interested that lands somewhere between 48 and 80 laps depending upon the music) it feels as if I’m again 17 years old with a long stretch of track in front of me, I don’t feel any pain from the work in the pool, in fact, 3 or 4 days a week it’s coupled with a 1.25-1.5 walk with Abbey THE dog and once a week with the mowing of the lawn and yet, there is no “dread” only excitement at the anticipation and joy in the outcome.

Who would have thought that a simple 25 yard long “cement pond” would, in truth, really be the fountain of youth, both present and future!