Pool rage

This may be my new primary pool.

I may have hit my final straw with my usual pool.

I've documented a few times when I get there at 6 a.m., when the lifeguard is supposed to be opening it, to find I have to wait. (A no-show here, arriving late here, closed for an event I didn't know about here.) Five minutes I don't mind, since I'm usually five minutes late for everything myself. But 10? 20? 30? Not cool. There's a special kind of angry that I get only when I wake up early for nothing.

Yesterday I was tired after my long run Sunday, but I knew a recovery swim would do me good. So I dragged my tired butt out of bed at 5:10, got ready, and headed into the pool. I was happy when I heard the lifeguard start to unlock the door at 5:59. But instead of opening it wide, she just stuck her head out a bit.

"The chemicals are off and I can't find the guy," she said. I already had my earplugs in, so I responded with, "Okaaaaaay?" I guess the chemical balance of the pool wasn't correct, and she couldn't find the maintenance guy. She said it would take 20 minutes to correct.

So I farted around and played on my phone for 20 minutes. I headed back to the pool doors and waited outside. She opened the door again! ... just to stick her head out. "It'll take another 15 minutes to settle."

That was it for me. I got dressed and left. I realize this is a first world problem, but I was already so tired, and had been waiting around for absolutely nothing, that I was pretty angry. I climbed back into bed and whined to my husband for a few minutes, and then got back up and took the mutts for a decent walk. It wasn't a total loss, but still. 5:10. In the morning. For nothing.

I'm ready to wash my hands of my usual pool. I have a membership in another club that happens to have both an indoor and an outdoor pool, and although it is farther away, I'm investigating the possibility of making that my main swimming spot. I also just learned that they do have an adult swim group and have reached out to the organizer.

I'm not paying for membership at a gym when the lifeguard is late half the time and the chemicals are off the other half. I'm a triathlete and I need to train. And being shorted on both sleep and swim time isn't making me any faster.