To Swim, Perchance to Dream: Regent Park Aquatic Centre

Regent Park Aquatic Centre after morning lap swim ended.

Some people have a dream car, or a dream house.  But the more I get into swimming, the more I have dream pools.  Places I'd like to swim, or wish I could swim every day.  

There are only 11 days until the Swim Across America Baltimore Open Water Swim (and you can still donate!)  On Saturday, I hopped a flight to Toronto for a weekend visit with my friend Cynthia  and a three day visit to the Meeting of the Minds conference.

Cynthia is a friend I made when we were both traveling in Cambodia, and this is the first time I've seen her since.  We had lots of fun exploring Toronto on Saturday, and on Sunday, she upped my game on my yoga practice by introducing me to Moksha Yoga (in a heated room), and then doing a flow class outdoors in Toronto's beautiful High Park! 

On Monday, I knew I had to get back in the pool.  And that's where this week's dream pool comes into play!

The Regent Park Aquatic Centre is a public swimming pool built in the midst "of a failed postwar social housing community" and as an anchor for that neighborhood's revitalization.  There's a great article on the design of the Centre from the Toronto Star.

The staff is lovely, the pool and facilities are beautiful and well maintained, and it's free!  The only drawback on Monday at 7:30 am, was that it was BUSY!  Turns out a lot of the other public pools get cleaned this time of year, so everyone came over to Regent Park.  But, I managed--with the help of a woman who was just back from the Big Shoulders 5k in Chicago--to log about 3200 meters before swim wrapped up at 9 am.  Not bad for work travel!

Have a suggestion for a future post of "To Swim, Perchance to Dream?"  Email me or tweet me with the hashtag #dreampool.  

The view walking up to the Regent Park Aquatic Centre for my morning swim!