The grass on the other side...

The monster just started on a new swimming gig. The pool at my campus is closed for renovation, for god knows how long. So, I shopped around, and found this place. Its okay. I mean, the bathrooms are wet, and a bit icky. There are dragonflies. But there are coaches and such. With whistles. And three separate sections (shallow, deep, deeper). Lane markers. I cannot wait to get in there and work on my skill. But meanwhile, the homies are in, taking lessons. Monster doesn't need a beginner lesson, but I couldn't find an intermediate one so we figured she can use this opportunity to work on her technique.

For the past three days therefore, I wake up at 5 am, and do the things I do in the kitchen. We all get ready and head out. And while they jump into the pool and hope that the coach shows them some attention, I step out, switch on my ipod and run. Just.. get out of the pool complex and run on the road, thats what I do. I wind up my run in time to pick up the monster and get her showered and changed, while her father does likewise in the men's section. We all return back and start rushing around getting ready for school and office and so forth.

This is a nice situation. Meaning, when I am running, I don't have to worry about the monster suddenly waking up and finding herself alone in bed, as used to happen when the husb. was travelling. I usually am a few minutes late in getting ready and have to cut my run short to ensure that I am back in time to wake up monster and get her ready for school, left to my own devices. Now, since I am forced to be ready by 5:30 am for the sake of their class, I have an extra 10 mins of running time, at least. The road outside is not bad at all. Slightly busy, but not bad. I just run into the good ol' campus at some point, hang a bit there, and hook a U back. Footpaths are wide for the most part, though a bit uneven in places. When I return to the pool place, I can do steps, going up and down in the place assigned for audience (during meets). The steps are a bit steep on one side but not bad on the other, as I discovered yesterday. Plenty of space for stretching and push-ups and so forth, if interested.

But everyday, I feel a twinge of regret. I want to get in the water and swim. I have considerable amount of work to do on my technique in swimming. I love running most of all, but on a hot Chennai day, the pool looks really inviting. On the other hand, when I was taking swimming lessons last summer, and had to drag myself every single day to the pool for a couple of weeks, I would look longingly at people who were running. And wonder about my mileage for the week, and how I could fit in a long run.

It is greener, isn't it? The grass?