Training Hurdles....

Since it's taper week and my training at this point is quite minimal and boring, I thought I'd talk about something we all deal with. Hurdles. Those hoops we jump through to make things work.
My biggest hurdle is pool time. Time in general is a big thing for me but I've figured out a way to make that work.
Pool time is a different story. I'll try not to get too fired up here. I live in an area without a local pool. I almost makes me cringe just to write that. I've been a swimmer since I was 8. I was lucky enough to grow up in an area with a beautiful town pool.
Now, the closest pool is 35 minutes away. It drives me nuts.
For the past few years, I have driven there for their 6 am swim. I leave home at 5:03, arrive there a 5:40, and hop in the water at 5:50. You see, the man who has lifeguarded the "early bird swim" for the past 14 years is nice enough to let us in 10 minutes early. I swim until 6:22, jump out, dress while still wet and drive like a maniac to get home so my husband can get to work at 7:00. Lucky for me he works ~1 mile from home and can leave here at 6:58!! Phew. That's a whopping 2000 yds most days! A whole 4000 yards/week! Yeah. Way to get fit! Sorry for the sarcasm. It just bugs me.
Things are even more annoying right now though. Our devoted lifeguard is out for 5 weeks. His sub does not see things as he does. She opens the locker rooms for us at 5:58. Arrrgh!!! What a waste of time! It's driving me nuts.
I tried to very calmly and politely explain to her today how much every minute counts and if she'd be willing to open at even 5:55 it would help. I offered to swim the lane lines down the pool to help her. She was ok about it...seemed to understand...sort of.
Somehow I need to convince this town of ours that the area needs a town pool. And then I need to raise the mega bucks to build it!!! Any ideas??
We all have hurdles we deal with to train for this sport. That's mine.