Water Blogged

Posted by Amy Baranski

With big travel this past weekend I was remiss in blogging. But I did go to water aerobics four consecutive days last week! Exercising consistently felt phenomenal. So it was very hard to get on a plane and take a three day rest.

That's because exercise provides this great ripple effect:  I drink more water, I eat healthily, and I find increased focus and productivity in my work.

Of course, at the beginning of the month after class I would make a big meal, take a cat nap, startle awake and go on with the rest of my day. That crash effect stopped after I made exercise my regular routine. I now sleep really well at night after a good work out during the day.

Taking off three days of water aerobics to go visit family...I wouldn't give that up for the world.

I've attended all but one of my classes this month at Medgar Evers pool. It's so close and feels like "my" neighborhood: parts hipster, gentrified, African American, and new-immigrant communities. The demographic is young. In the evenings the lap lanes are full of eager-bodied teens swimming swiftly from end to the other. I love the energy of the place, even if all the instructors are not equally motivating. Yesterday I stepped back in the pool after the weekend hiatus. The flotation belt had been causing some chaffing on my arms so I'm wearing it below the bump, which prevents the chaffing but presents it's own difficulties (such as slipping down over my hips or creeping up onto my bump).

Today however, I'll miss my usual noon-time class to go to Melissa's favorite Senior class at Greenlake. That pool is fun too, it just doesn't feel like "home" to me. I guess I like the industrial (concrete/low natural light) feel of the Medgar Evers building. Really it's the people I like most, and the smell of Ezelle's fried chicken every time I emerge from the building. But when in the water I feel the same no matter where I am. So here I come Greenlake!

Project Simplify: These Are the Drawers of my Life

Posted by Melissa Baumgart

In my kitchen

It has been so great going back to water aerobics.  After the fearsome cramps of Monday evening, Tuesday's noon class at Medgar Evers pool was an energetic relief.  I had no cramps, I worked super hard and I felt like I really had a good workout.  The instructor was awesome, very enthusiastic and with great attention to form and technique.  These last two weeks of March are going to be filled with pool time, since today is my last final of the quarter,  Yay!

In the bathroom

The last two weeks of March are also going to be filled with more Spring Cleaning with inspiration and guidance from Simple Mom.  This week's challenge, or "hot spot" for Project Simplify is "Closets, Countertops and Drawers."  I think I mentioned earlier this week, how I am super excited, given the state of the junk drawer in my kitchen.  This is my week to really shine and make some progress.

One step forward, two steps back, three steps forward, one step back...and so on.

I recall the analogy of my life being a junk drawer.  How I can be so on top of my life, internally and externally.  And then, things start unravelling; my inner joy is replaced by a mess of darkness and my outer fitness begins to shake like a bowl full of jello if I attempt any quick motion.  The thing is, it's all OK.  It's all good.  We are not perfect.  I mean, maybe ya'll are, but I certainly am not.  I want to be the kind of person that can let herself unravel, and have the courage to untangle that mess of yarn as soon as it starts becoming a problem.

In my desk

You can't ignore it forever.  Someday you are going to have to clean out that junk drawer, start eating healthy again and get your butt outside for some activity.  It might not be today.  But the day will come.  And if not, then where are you?  You're hidden in the mess of pens and screws, Nag Champa, old birthday candles and barrettes in some junk drawer...and before you know it you're lost.

Right now, it is my time to tackle that drawer, again.  And maybe a lot more along the way.

Here's to life!
Melissa

Aqua Jog at Medgar Evers

Posted by Amy Baranski

Yesterday evening after speed cleaning the dishes I ran out the door and made haste for the #48 bus. Point of destination: Medgar Evars pool. Sadly, in the 12 years I've lived in Seattle I'd never been to Medgar Evars. Prior to this month, I'd never dipped my toe in any public pools around town. Lake Washington is my better known summer swimming hole. But the pools! I've underused this public resource for over a decade now. For shame.

I missed my bus.

Maybe it's the people I've associated with, who prefer natural swimming holes, or maybe I never asked the right question to the right person. But typically it's been easier to find sun worshipers in Seattle rather than swimmers. I can't ever guess why. I'm more the latter. I love the heat of the sun, but I'm not a fan of ultra violet rays. I'd rather be in the water than on land. My favorite all time place to swim is in the ocean. Wow I love the ocean. It's buoyant and there live wild creatures!

Fortunately another #48 came barreling down 23rd Avenue. I jumped on.

Most of the public swimming pools look funny from the outside. They are industrial and public and remind me of the Soviet construction we saw prevalent in Cuba during a trip there with my husband in 2008. Medgar Evars pool is most peculiar looking. Cemented and angularly institutional it isn't the height of welcoming save the murals depicting its civil rights era namesake on the building's cold exterior.

I went in.

The pool was hopping with teenagers. Now that I'm pregnant teenagers don't scare me anymore. Not that they scared me, but now I see them better, or maybe they see me better. Members of the Cascade Swim team crawled and backstroked in the pool, parents sat in the bleachers. A good looking young swim instructor worked with little kids in the shallow end. I made my way into the women's locker room.

Medgar Evers feels bigger than the Green Lake pool, although it probably isn't. It reminds me of the pool I swam in as a child. Within walking distance of my house I'd head there after dinner in the evenings for the public swim and practice and practice. For me, swimming came with work.

I was early.

So I got dressed in my suit and tried to take a stealthy picture of myself in the locker room. Major fail. I showered (a requirement before getting in the pool) and eventually headed to the deep end. Other aqua joggers gathered. No seniors. Just thirty-somethings, forty-somethings, and fifty-somethings. At least 20 people in total. We did not conduct the course in a circle as I experienced at Green Lake. Instead we went from one end of the pool the other. The workout differed too.

I was the only pregnant one.

While the other students worked on abdominal crunches in the second part of class the teacher made me jog, then run, then cross country ski. A woman looked at me, "I think you're getting the shorter end of the stick here." I smiled. This time my belt felt different, perhaps I had the wrong size. The result felt like treading water for 45 minutes. After class I chatted with the instructor. "I'm a horrible teacher. They make me do this class because I've been here for three years. I tell them stick me in the water with kids I'll do anything. I hate teaching adults."

I thought he was perfect.

There's an upcoming Aqua Jog class at Medgar Evers on Wednesday at 6:00 pm. See you there?

Who goes to Water Aerobics?

Before the sparsely attended class at Medgar Evers pool.

Posted by Melissa Baumgart
Why isn't there a documentary about water aerobics?  I was at near-threshold for crying almost the entire class, moved by the beauty of the moment.  Moment after moment continued to hit me filled with pure human experience.  Why is it that the elderly always bring that out in me?  I think back to tai-chi in the strip mall and my night out in Snohomish with Glory.  All of a sudden, there I am in an everyday experience having an odd clarity about my priorities and what really matters in life.

My emotional water aerobics experience happened at a Friday morning Hydro-fit class at Green Lake's Evan pool.  After my first class at Medgar Evens pool, I was not prepared for the age of the crowd that gathered to change in the locker room.  My first class never reached any high capacity at only six participants.  And we were all somewhere between 30-50 years old.  Mostly hovering around the 40 year old mean, you know, I bet the standard deviation would have only been about 2 at the most.  Sorry, statistics class is really infecting my life.  And I love it!

So, the Thursday night class, Water Exercise, was intense.  There was nothing magical about it, aside from the Miami Beach pop tunes to keep us pumped up and the entertainment of the instructor showing us what to do in the water from the cement above.  But no life clarity occurred for me in that pool.  I did, however, get an amazing workout.  The kind of workout that leaves you sore for a couple days.  And I like that.  I left that class liking my first experience, and a little confused about the population.  I really had braced myself to be the youngest person there.

Then Friday morning, Amy and I showed up early to the Hydro-fit class.  It was packed.  There were two classes; one shallow end, one deep end.  And there must have been at least 20 people in each class.  Some people were clearly there to get fit, and others were there for the social party like atmosphere.  I wondered if some guys were there in hopes of a pick-up.  I wondered what it would be like to be 80 and single.

I can't wait to get back.  I want to be a part of that "in-crowd."

-Melissa