A year ago today, I began counting pools with a swim at Riverbank State Park’s indoor pool, the same place I found myself this morning. I was pretty sure that I’d be able to meet my goal of 40 pools, but I didn’t necessarily expect to average slightly better than a pool a week, or to become nearly as obsessed with blogging stats as I am with pool stats.
Interestingly enough, that very first pool turned out to be the most popular post, followed by Manhattan Plaza in second and the Asser Levy indoor pool in third. With one being a massive state outcropping, another a highly covetable Theater District-flavored private club, and the third possessing more old-world charm than lane space, these pools couldn’t be more different from one another, or better indicators of the variety of swim options available to local pool tourists.
Down in the dregs of the popularity contest, meanwhile, is the Vanderbilt YMCA East Pool. I’m going to attribute that lowly ranking to it being a relatively recent post published at a time of year when most people aren’t focused on swimming, and not as a slight against that perfectly adequate, well-run pool.
Computers from 103 countries found their way to 40 Pools. Traffic peaked in July soon after the city’s outdoor pools opened. We’ll see if we can top that record next summer.
For more stats, check out the 2012 annual report prepared by the WordPress.com helper monkeys.
Thanks for a great year of pool blogging. Your blog, and our visit to the pool at LaGuardia Community College early in its history, motivated me to develop my swimming, and make it the regular part of my life.
Thanks Zoe! Swimming is a wonderful gift to share. I hope we’ll find some other pools to visit together in the future.
That would be fun.