by Katharine Borczak
3700 meters in. A medium distance swim planned. A late start. The kids are starting to flood into the pool. The lanes begin to get reduced from six to two. The lane swimmers begin to exit. I still have another 2300 meters. I follow the line floats. Slipping under them to the next lane as guards roll up others to open up a family swim. The dodging of toys begins. Floating Ducks. Noodles. Rings. I’ve mastered the art of tossing a rubber duck back over to the family section without missing a stroke. Good practise for when one is open water swimming and a stick gets in the way.
The guards all know me. They know just to move my water bottles to the top of the lane they want me at and I glide over without interruptions. No complaints. I just follow. Following comes natural in swimming. Not so natural on dry soil.