Closed

I would not be as aware as I am if it were not for social media. But every day I read it. Another swimming pool closed. Another gym closed. As a member of several swimming groups and several groups devoted to strength sports, I see the whining daily. I don't blame them. I would be crying to.

These closings are throwing people out into the streets. Literally. Over and over I have read the cries for help from displaced swimmers. They are turning to the roads to run. They want advice, encouragement, empathy. They certainly have my empathy. 

It is not just in America. I saw a Facebook video of a woman in England being forcibly removed from a swimming pool and hauled of to jail. Her crime? Swimming in a "closed pool." This virus has infected us all. We have gone stark raving mad.

Even my old nemesis, Randy Beets, cried foul at his pool in Morganton, North Carolina closing for a month. He was so exacerbated that he questioned if I, Zane Hodge, could have caused the corona virus to gain a competitive edge over him. Thanks, Randy, but I am neither that devious nor that smart.

At times like this, I am reminded of one of the reasons running has always been so appealing to me. You don't need a special place. You don't have to go somewhere, and you are not dependent on someone else saying it is OK for you to work out. You can run almost anywhere almost anytime with almost no equipment. You just need some good shoes and the gumption to get out the front door. It is simple, natural, and effective. That is why I will always be a runner if I can do it, even if it means being reduced to an old-man shuffle, which is my current state of "running."

I have seen a number of videos of late of people who normally lift in a gym, being forced to find a way at home or in the front yard. God bless them. Here I have the big advantage of being a gym owner. I am the founder, president, and CEO of Plate City Gym. Essentially, Plate City is a bunch of weights, benches, bars, dumbbells, racks, and other equipment in my backyard. The only problem with having a backyard gym is that inclement weather can knock out your best laid plans. That happens from time to time and when it does, I just go to Twin Rivers and hit it there. But now, I am not sure that option even exists anymore. When I left the pool yesterday morning, I noticed a sign near the front door of the main building. It read: Closed  C Virus.

And that brings me to my next point. This morning at 3:30 a.m., I stuck me key into the lock of the pool building. Then I noticed the sign: This pool is closed. Key holders are permitted to swim at their own risk.

Thank God I'm a key holder. When so many people don't have access to water right now, mine is at an all-time high. Twin Rivers opened the indoor pool a year and a few months ago. Since then my swimming yardage has soared. Previously, most of the year I was limited to swimming twice per week at Delta State University, a fifty mile one-way drive. I swam with the Masters group there. After the first of the year, I would begin my Chicot build up by going again on Friday. That meant I was driving 300 miles to swim three times per week. In March, anxious and stressed, I would begin to venture outdoors, in a wetsuit and try to swim the catfish ponds in a desperate attempt to get in some distance. These March swims were usually very short bouts of torture. By April, however, the water had warmed some and my cold water acclimation had risen to the level that I could stay in a while in a wetsuit. It always worked out, my Chicot training. With the advent of Twin River's indoor pool, however, it works out much better with little stress over my yardage.

All of this is to say that I recognize God's abundant blessing on me. At a time when many people can't, I can run, I can lift, and I can swim virtually all I want whenever I want. God help those who are displaced right now. May they find running a good thing. May they discover the joy of body-weight exercises. And may this virus to leave our land and our life return to normal.

Thank you, Jesus.