Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center

Heading from Cincinnati to Nashville today, with a planned afternoon stop in Louisville, home of the Kentucky Derby. But first, there's time for a quick swim.

Just outside central Louisville, I find the Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center, a 50m pool with lanes open throughout the day.

The pool is named after Louisville swimmer Mary T. Meagher, one of the greatest butterfly specialists the sport has produced. At just 14, she breaks the 200m butterfly world record and goes on to dominate the event throughout the early 1980s. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, she wins gold in the 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly and 4x100m medley relay. Her world records in the 100m and 200m butterfly then stand until 1999 and 2000 respectively, an extraordinary lifespan in international swimming.

Even now, she's still setting records, claiming the 60-64 age-group world record in the 200m butterfly in 2025 and the 100m butterfly in June 2026.

Outside, it's hot. Very hot. A cold pool swim sounds perfect. The pool sits in a quiet spot between a golf course and a reservoir.

Pay the very reasonable entry fee and follow directions through the gym to the quieter locker room. There's a family splash session on, so the main locker rooms are busy. Manage to find my way through the gym and out onto the pool deck.

The eight-lane 50m pool is set up with four 50m lanes, while a mid-pool boom creates a public splash area and four 25m lanes on the far side. I do like these flexible boom setups.

While there's quite a few people in the splash session, the four long-course lanes each have only one swimmer, so I pick a lane, jump in and wait until my lane buddy spots me - agree to circle swim, then make a start.

It's going to be a short, easy-paced session today. Things to do! Work through 1km, then finish with a few 100s for 1600m in total, roughly a mile. Enough for today!

Now it's into Louisville to see the world's largest baseball bat, then down to Cave City to visit the world's longest known cave system!