Two and a half years ago when I dipped my toe into the world of Long Distance swimming, I was naieve enough to think I could do it (swim the channel) as other ordinary people had done it, lived in my little world of ignorant bliss that I was an ok swimmer and I was stubborn. These things would surely be good qualities that would get me through both a two person relay and then spur me to complete a solo channel swim.
Fast forward 2.5 years through the successful two person relay of the English Channel - one of the hardest days of mine and my relay partner Clare's life. Two hours of swimming followed by two hours of vomitting and repeat four times over. Why didn't either of us give up, because we were both too stubborn to do so and didn't want to be the first to cave. That combined with a lot of luck, an awesome pilot, fab team of advisers on the beach in Dover, our motely crew on the boat and a lot of hard work, tears and tantrums got us across the Channel. The bad stuff is a distant memory, the good stuff still firmly planted at the front of my mind and this time I'm going SOLO!!
This time round I've decided I'm going to do a few things to share the experience and prove that I'm not actually a nutter (like most of my family and close friends think).
1. Write a Blog
This is not going to be a blog about how many miles I've swum and what an amazing swimmer I am.... Quite frankly I'm not an olympian or a world record holder (never will be) there will always be a better swimmer than me (and lots of them), there will always be someone who swims further than me, it's boring and most people simply won't care. I am going to write about tears, tantrums, silly tan lines, water temp, sea beards, chaffing, vomit, wees, weight gain and all the interesting things I discover during the training season.
2. Raise money for Charity.
This is not the first time I've completed a sporting activity with the hope of putting myself through pain to raise money for a charity. But this is different. This is the channel and the toughest thing I will have done in my short 31 years on this planet. So I believe if I'm going to smile and wince my way through the training, give up my weekends and social life along with my beautfiul Ted Baker clothing (as I not longer fit into it), then others should benefit. The charities I have chosen relate to cancer research because in the last 12 months 5 people who have made an impact on my life in some shape or form have lost their fight with cancer, most noteably my grandmother Mary McIntyre. They all fought a hard, but this is a disease we don't have a cure for and if I can make some form of difference I would like too.
3. Tell people about it
The reasons are many, 1) they will keep me in check with my training 2) so my colleagues understand when I scoff down 3 slices of cake, always have wet hair and a hat tan line and 3)when I waddle around with grazes on my neck it's not that I've been to some form of a random sex party.... but actually that I have chaffing on my thighs and neck due to swimming and that waddling and swimmers hickey's are a normal part of my life now along with fat clothes.
Check back, I will try to update weekly, maybe more frequently dependent upon what's happening.
Kx
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