michael_elder (michael_elder) wrote in birchcreek, @ 2009-01-02 15:19:00 |
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Entry tags: | thread: coraline walmsley, thread: michael elder |
January 2nd
WHO: Michael Elder and OPEN
WHAT: Exercise is good for you
WHERE: The Herculean Gym
WHEN: 10 pm
WHY: Michael likes to swim
RATING: TBD
STATUS: Open and ongoing
Michael had been ecstatic to see the Herculean Gym open. Weight-lifting, boxing and those sorts of things held no interest for him--it was the huge, Olympic-sized pool that called him. Back home he'd gone swimming every day, and he'd missed it terribly.
He'd cheerfully paid for his gym membership and had turned his steps to the dressing room, shower, and pool. The pool room was a thing of beauty, the air warm and moist, the scent of chlorine sharp but welcomed. There were a few in the pool but more out doing the grunting and sweating involved in weight-lifting. He was glad to leave them to it.
Chucking his towel against the wall, he walked to the edge and sat down. The lifeguard on duty nodded to him, and Michael returned it, sliding down into the water. It was a few degrees less than body temperature and slid around him like cool silk. He ducked beneath the surface, and the world slid away, muffled and distant, and he could believe for a moment it was just him and the water.
He surfaced and moved to the lap lanes. Years of swimming had given him a clean, powerful stroke, and he could swim forever, almost effortlessly. Swim the length of the pool, do a lazy flip to turn, then swim the length again. It was calm and peaceful, almost meditative, and slowly, stress and tension slid away in the sheer joy of movement.