Friday, January 06, 2006

Mid-lane collision

During my run yesterday afternoon, I was on a treadmill overlooking the pool in the Z Center. The middle lane had three or four people in it, and they were circle swimming, meaning that instead of splitting the lane in half and staying on one side, everyone swam laps counterclockwise, swimming down on one side of the lane and back on the other.

That is, everyone except one guy. This dude, in flippers, either didn't know that everyone else in his lane was circle swimming, or maybe he had pulled out to the left to pass someone else...? In any case, he was splashing along, completely unaware that he was headed directly toward another swimmer in the left side of the lane. They were both doing the freestyle, so they were only looking sideways instead of in front of themselves.

I could see how this was going to end when they were still 25 meters apart. Yup - they got closer and closer and then - boom! Both reached out for another stroke, whacked each other on the shoulders, and bonked heads. Flipper guy popped up and looked utterly confused, but the other guy just looked mad. They seemed to exchange a few words, then the mad guy plowed on and the flipper guy swam hurriedly into the right side of the lane. Once he reached the end, he got out, seemingly too embarrassed to keep swimming.

I know this must have been painful and frustrating for the two swimmers, but for us upstairs, it was kind of like watching an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos.

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