There was a road block in my lane

The swim schedule said two lanes were open for lap swimmers while the other two lanes were for swimming lessons.

But apparently the lesson kids don't care about following the schedule.

I went to the YMCA after work for my Monday night swim session. The training plan told me I was supposed to do 1,350 yards in the pool followed by a 10-minute "transition" bike. I knew the swimming would get done, but the jury was still out on the bike.

So I got in the pool. And things were going swimmingly. I was doing my laps. Swimming up and down the length of the pool. And amazingly, I wasn't losing count where I was. I just kept swimming. Because 1,350 yards? That's a lot of laps - 54 to be exact. And also the farthest distance I've swam so far.

I'm swimming. And swimming. I had a pretty good rhythm going. And it was kind of nice because there was another girl swimming laps next to me, so it gave me some incentive to keep up a good pace. Because I wanted to stay ahead of her.

Pretty soon, I'm touching the wall and turning around and I realize I've hit 1,250 yards. Yeah! Only four more laps to go and I could get out of the pool. Because at this point. I'm starving. I put my head in the water and start my crawl. And I'm almost to the other end of the pool when I notice this little boy swimming in my lane.

What? Where'd he come from? And more importantly, why was he in my lane?

Turns out he's diving for some ring things that he'd thrown in the pool.

I had to stop swimming briefly, just so I didn't swim over the kid. I was eventually able to get to the end of the lane, turn around and swim away from the kid. But by the time I get to the other end of the pool? He's back in my lane, looking for that darn ring again. Apparently there were two rings and he couldn't find the second one. His teacher's on the pool deck, trying to help him find it. Because from what I could understand, he threw it in the wrong lane.

And me? I'm sitting at the end of the pool, with two laps to go before my workout's done. But instead of swimming the last 50 yards? I'm waiting for a little kid to find a lost ring. Grrr.

He eventually fished it out of the pool and got out himself. And I got my lane back. But still. I was in a groove the entire workout until the end, when he decided to throw in a ring in a lane that wasn't even next to where his swimming lessons were taking place!

I know I shouldn't be too upset. In the end, I got my swim in without swimming over the kid. It just reminds me why I like to go to the pool when no swimming lessons are taking place. So stuff like this doesn't happen.