GEORGIA
- Athens
YMCA
SGOL
Link
C-
25 yards, lanes always open, paceclock,
indoors, kickboards.
84 degrees, $4.00-even with a Y
card!
Problem One: I had to wear my Zoomers
for the whole workout because when I didn't, some underparented brat would
run off with them. My quads are killing me, you little demon!
Problem Two: What should
have been one normal size lane was made into two skinny ones by running a
rope down it's center. In essence, I split the lane with a lane rope. It sucked.
My vision is poor and my depth perception is worse. Everytime I emerged from
my version of Misty Hyman's fish kick, I'd smack into one rope, overcorrect
and then crash into the other one. Also, since there were only three lap swimming
spaces, (circling not being an option), anxious lap swimmers would stand near
the deck and stare, waiting for me to get out. This put quite adamper on my
mid-set daydreaming activities.
- Augusta
YWCA
D+
I don't live in Augusta.
The water temperature. (see details)
Ahh the Y-dub. I did 4000 yards in a
ninety degree pool. Severe dehydration set in after two minutes and the water
fountain was tucked away in the locker room. Every three hundred yards or
so I had to crawl out of the deep end like an American P.O.W on the last mile
of the Bataan Death March. Slurp.
- Hinesville
Liberty County YMCA
A-
A brand-new, gorgeous deep 25 yard
pool in a tiny town that's 45 minutes south of Savannah. Kickboards, clocks
etc.
Have you ever heard of Hinesville?
Savannah's pool situation is dire indeed,
so rent a car and drive to this lush, underused Y. it's free with a Y Travel
card and I always had my own lane.
If you aren't up for chit
chat during practice, remember that you are a visitor in The South. More than
once, a senior citizen mistook my generous intervals for rest and decided
that I was ripe for conversation. It's hard to push off the wall when an old
guy who proudly served his country in WW2 wants to tell you all about it.
If you aren't interested in the Normandy Invasion, do a 3,000 for time.
- Norcross
Fowler YMCA
SGOL
Link
B
25
yards, 3 lanes are always open, paceclock, indoors, kickboards.
Very warm, and lots of kids.
Oh, it could be a beauty- if the temperature
wasn't more appropriate for defrosting hamburgers. The facility seems new,
and there's even a Masters team. (AM workouts, alas, and we did not meet).
I swam here on the weekends. What happened to the good old days, when children
were neither seen nor heard? I was nice for ten minutes, as parents laughed
and giggled while their little cherubs tried to to butterfly in my lane. Then
the New York in me fought its way out and I streamlined straight into three
brats, spearing them like a nursery school shish kabob. It was at this point,
I believe, that I was left to my own devices.
8. It could have been
worse.
- Roswell
Swim
Atlanta
SGOL
Link
B+
Three dollars admission, 25
yards, indoors, kickboards and a killer swimshop attached.
The locker room is medieval, and
they are closed on the weekends.
The names of Swim Atlanta's national champions
are painted on the walls. I was so inspired that I did an extra easy fifty!
