Getting Fit

Before I had Meri, I was an exercising fool.  It just felt good both physically and mentally.  I ran (slowly) a couple times a week with my neighbor in the evenings and then I discovered swimming. I took swimming lessons to learn how to lap swim to add a little variety to my fitness.  I wanted to get better at swimming and remember what I was being taught, so I thought I would practice what I was learning once a week in the morning before work.  I enjoyed it so much that I literally woke up at 4:30 am without an alarm clock excited to go to the pool.  Soon I started going just about every morning before work - just because I loved it so much.  

My love for it ended abruptly when a certain sweet baby started pushing on my lungs.  Suddenly it felt really scary to be in a 8 lane 50 meter pool that was 14 feet deep at the deep end and 8 feet deep at the shallow end, while not being able to take a good deep breath.  So I stopped.

But lately, I have been jonesing to swim again. The rec center that I went to is not really very close to my house.  Once I made it there in 17 minutes when I got lucky with the lights at 5 am.  Usually it was closer to 25 minutes.  So I have been looking for other options.  Recently a sport and health club facility opened in the Wegman's complex near my house with a 4 lane 25 meter pool shallow pool (only 4 feet deep). 

Today Meri and I went to check it out and I ended up signing up for a one person membership with the rest of the family getting free memberships for 3 months.  If the whole family actually uses it, we can upgrade to the family plan later.  I am *super* excited about this.   

The pool seems small in comparison to the rec center, but it is also lightly used according to the club.  Lane sharing was a regular sport at the rec center - one that I will not miss. Plus they have family swim time in two of the lanes in the afternoons, so I can take Meri and Audrey.  The club has an amazing daycare with a nanny camera that lets you see what your child is doing from any of the workout machines on a certain channel.  Two hours of daycare is included every day.  Meri went right in so I could take the tour and she didn't want to leave when I was done.

I am also going to try some of the group classes.  Zumba looks like so much fun, so I will definitely do that one and I want to try this crazy bodycombat class that is a mixture of martial arts - sounds interesting.  Unfortunately, the yoga classes are right at Audrey's schools drop off time, so I probably won't get to try those classes until summer.