decidedlyodd

I’ve been at my parents’ place in California since Tuesday night. On Wednesday, I went for a run with my Mom and her friend Barb. It was longer than I’m used to (about 35 minutes of actual running compared to the 20 I normally do), but it was still enjoyable. Later that day, we went down to Linda Lane Beach to go swimming in the ocean. There was some red tide, but it was mostly a ways out from where the waves were breaking. The daughter of one of my mom’s co-workers/friends, Tahia, was also there. We went to high school together and hadn’t seen each other since that time (about 8 years ago). It was cool talking to her.

Thursday, I went down to the Ole Hanson Beach Club pool to swim for $2. The pool is fairly small and there were a lot of people there. I ended up splitting a lane with a guy for a while, until a third joined us. Everybody was pretty nice down there and many of them were obviously regulars who all know each other. Anyhow, I circle swam for the first time ever and it wasn’t bad at all. Later on, a different guy joined our lane who swam much faster than me or the other guy in the lane. That was somewhat frustrating, but still very manageable. After I left, I noticed in a couple of other lanes there must have been 5 or 6 people circle swimming at one time, which was pretty intense since the pool is only about 25 yards long (maybe shorter even). The other thing I noticed was that everybody there was super tan. I guess they probably go there every day (or almost every day) year round. Still, it was pretty enjoyable. In the future, I think I’ll check out the neighborhood pool in the morning, but I may go back to this pool too since it’s actually setup for lap swimming.

After swimming on Thursday, I went in search of some new shoes. My parents were cleaning house and I just wanted to get away from that mayhem. I didn’t have much luck finding shoes, but I did end up buying a new racing suit. In North Carolina, it seems like all there is in the way of sporting goods stores is Dick’s. It’s an ok store, but in terms of swim suits they only sell one kind: standard Speedo, lycra/nylon blend available in blue or black. Well, out here there are many sporting goods chains and I managed to visit several of them. First, I went to Big 5, which was the smallest of the ones I visited. They actually had a decent swim suit section especially compared to Dick’s, but nothing really caught my attention. Next, I went to Sport Chalet, which had suits by Speedo, Tyr and Nike, in a variety of colors and materials (lycra/nylon as well as Polyester/PBT). However, they didn’t have the suit I liked best in my size. From there I went to Sportmart, which I believe had a huge collection of shoes, but nothing I liked. They had a sale on all men’s Nike and Speedo swimsuits but once again nothing that I liked in my size, although they did have some variety. Next, I went to Chick’s, which had different stuff from the other two stores. They also had the different patterns and materials (even 100% nylon water polo suits). I ended up buying a Tyr Durafast suit (their Polyester/PBT line) for $20 in blue (not black like in the picture). After that I went by a different Sport Chalet, which actually had the suit I was looking at at the previous Sport Chalet in my size. Still, I didn’t need more than 1 new suit and the Sport Chalet suit was a few dollars more in a pattern I wasn’t terribly crazy about. In general, Tyr suits seem pretty widely available around here, probably because the company is based in Huntington Beach. They seem to fit me pretty well and don’t look as frumpy as Speedo’s Endurance line (made of Polyester/PBT also).

After all of this, I headed over to the Mission Viejo Mall (I refuse to call it “the Shops at Mission Viejo Mall” which is what they renamed it a few years ago after it got renovated) to find some shoes. I ended up buying a pair at the Vans store, but after wearing them home decided they were too tight and didn’t fit right.

Today, my parents, my aunt Suzie, her guy Kent, Suzie’s dog Bandi and my parents’ dog Cosmo went for a hike up to a place called “Heart Rock” near Crestline. It’s called “heart rock” because there’s a large heart shaped hole carved by water in a rock:

It’s up in the San Bernardino mountains and the weather was warm, but we had a good time. Everybody (but especially Cosmo) went swimming in this pond slightly downstream from a waterfall next to where the heart is. I didn’t go since I didn’t bring my swimsuit. Moreover, I didn’t feel like getting my clothes all wet swimming in them or going skinny dipping in front of relatives. I still dangled my feet in the water though, which was nice. The full set of pictures is here.

After getting home, my mom and I went back over to the mall so that I could exchange the shoes I bought and so that she could buy some new running shoes. After much deliberation and spending way too much time in the store, I ended up buying a new pair of shoes. They still need to get broken in and I’m still getting used to wearing shoes with arches (damn you, Converse Chuck Taylor’s!), but they should work out ok eventually.