#93 Keeping it weird-part deux

It was back to keeping it weird in Austin, Texas. The last time I was in Austin was pool #71 (Barton Springs) in the fall of 2015.

This time it was in the middle of the summer with blazing hot temps for our sales meeting.  Shannon and I made it a long weekend to enjoy the great food, music and all the fun weirdness Austin has to offer. We did some food trucking, watched the Congress Bridge bats, listened to music and cruised hip South Congress.

Importantly, I was able to sneak in a little swimming on the side. It wasn't ideal water temp or enough distance swimming for English Channel training. It was a bit of a rest week or at least I told myself that.  Pool #93 was the Deep Eddy Pool which is purportedly the oldest man made pool in Texas-how about that?  The began as a swimming hole in the Colorado River and turned into a resort in the 1920's.

By my stroke count I knew it wasn't 25 yards so I guessed it was around 33.3 yards. Sure enough when I asked somebody they said it was.  The water is spring fed so it was refreshingly cool. It was a bit murky, not that big a deal. It was kinda hard to guess how far I swam as I was just swimming back and forth so I would guess it was around 3,500 yards. It wasn't enough but it was all I needed to start the day.

The coolest part of the pool is the outdoor locker room that was built during the Depression by the Works Progress Administration. Barton Springs has a similar locker room. You are certainly one with nature when you are rinsing off and changing outdoors!

After a great brunch with mimosas and some shopping on South Congress it was time for a reprise of pool #71.  It was as hot as heck so we went to Barton Springs to cool off with hundreds and hundred and hundreds of other people.  It was a bit of an obstacle course to get in four laps in this 260 yards of this pool like swimming hole.  I just kept telling myself that its ok...its a rest week!

Looking forward to going back to Austin in the future. It is a really cool town that would be fun to explore even more when its a tad bit cooler outside.

Miles and miles

These days when I speak of putting in the miles I tend to think about swimming. Generally, that is true but over the 4th of July weekend it wasn't only miles in the water but a lot of miles in the car too.

It started with a trip to JFK airport so Courtney could meet up with her Barcelona group for their 3 week adventure. While it seemed like a good idea to drive her there it wasn't, as traffic was brutal leaving Massachusetts. The upside was Courtney got to spend time with us (😉) and we stopped in Westport,CT for the night to visit with old friends.  

When in Westport in the summer where does one go but Compo Beach for a morning dip. My trusty sidekick Andy joined me for a beautiful sunrise swim to beat the boat traffic for the holiday weekend. We swam from Compo to Burying Hill Beach and back. Great morning! 

We then wandered up the Connecticut coast towards home to Hammosett State Beach in Madison for some beach time.  A long and wide beach and very crowded. A quick several hundred yards to round up to 8,000 yards for the day!

It was back to Weston for a quick turnaround the next morning for the second part of the weekend. To kick off the day I made a trip to L Street for a dip. A really nice morning with calm waters.

By 11:00am we were out the door to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts and Stockbridge. We had a fun afternoon playing corn hole and lounging in the pool at our  friends lovely new home. The highlight of the day was a picnic on the lawn of Tanglewood and the traditional July 3rd James Taylor concert. Really nice evening.

The next morning we kicked off be the 4th of July celebration with swim in a quintessential Norman Rockwell setting, the Stockbridge Bowl. It was a relaxed group swim. Post swim brunch with mimosas and a short stop at the Norman Rockwell museum we on our way back to Weston. A quiet cookout for Shannon and then to bed. A great weekend with beautiful weather.

Total mileage for the long weekend 758.5. 750 miles driving and 8.5 miles swimming. Oddly enough I was more tired driving than swimming. I guess that is a good thing if you,are training for the English Channel.