The bag

In all the time I've been running, which I think is around twenty-two years now, I have never once put on my running stuff without actually going out for a run. Consequently, when I'm not quite in the mood for a run, one of the ways I can fool myself into it is by putting on my running stuff. By some fluke of internal idiocy I can convince myself that this does not constitute going for a run whilst knowing that the very action commits me to doing it. 

Similarly, my swimming bag: packing that in the morning and putting it into the car is supposed to commit me to swimming in the evening after work although it's not quite as effective as the running trick, to be honest. Tonight, for example, when I got to the Minx's I wasn't convinced I was going to make it; I simply felt too tired. However, I gambled on a nap and, twenty minutes later, I was awake and ready for a swim.

I like the leisure centre in Chorley and I find I'm even reasonably relaxed about the mixed changing "village". More alarming is the lighting and mirrors in the gents' loo, which highlighted how much weight I need to lose off my belly. I walked out to the pool feeling quite disheartened and self-conscious. And when I say walked, I mean tentatively made my way across the wet poolside tiles. (No one would ever need to caution me about running next to the pool.)

It was lane swimming tonight and there were indeed two lanes across the middle of the pool, leaving two large areas either side. I was surprised to see the two lanes were full of people powering up and down at full pelt. Now I'm a pretty strong swimmer but these people were out of my league and I decided to just swim up and down in the general pool area.

I had just eased myself into the pool and taken comfort in hiding my belly below the surface when a lifeguard came over and said "Excuse me, sir, but this is an adult swim area". As you can imagine, being undeniably of an age, I was a little flummoxed by this. I opened my mouth to point out that I was an adult but decided that I was almost certainly missing the point here. In the end I said "I just want to swim up and down". The lifeguard looked at me again and said "This is an adult swim area."

I decided to try another tack. "The website says it's lane swimming but those lanes are a bit full". "They're for the swimming club." "Oh, right. Well, the lady at reception also said there was lane swimming." At this point the lifeguard - kindly and helpfully - said he'd add another lane, a process which I found that I became involved in, and I ended up stood at the poolside for a minute or two, uncomfortably aware of my protruding stomach.

Eventually, though, when I had ferried the end of the rope from one end of the pool to the other, inadvertently fencing in another swimmer who decided to stay in the lane with me, I was able to set about the business of swimming up and down the pool. If I'd known what a palaver it was going to be, I doubt I would have gone to the pool, this evening, but once I was out, dry and dressed, I was glad I'd been. I always am.

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Diet news
-3.1kg Slow progress/big belly. Waistline down by one centimetre to 108, though.