Training is the hardest thing about this challenge. I am comforted that I have already swum in colder climes than the challenge I’m about to undertake and have already experienced hyperthermia. This week alone I will have swum for three hours outside in the beautiful lido and trained three hours on land. By the day of the event I will have swum 100s of miles in preparation which will be coupled with tens of hours of gym work. Weekly, from May I will be swimming in open water.
On the day I will be in a team of six, each of us taking one-hour stints in the cold, dirty, water – dodging ferries, tankers and all manner of debris, on our way to France. This will take place some time between the 9th &16th August 2010 (the precise date depends on the conditions in the Channel).
Why? One of the key reasons is that I was asked by my brother. I initially said ‘no’ – but he looked so dissapointed! I asked him why he wanted to do it and he said that really he wanted to make sense of all the swimming we did and do. This rang true to me. I have an early memory of my father trying to convince me to let go of the side of the pool and later memories swimming for hours and hours on holiday, swimming pools, rivers and – my favourite – the sea. Another key reason: the charity Diabetes UK. I think that diabetes touches many lives in one way or another; we all know people who live with this disease. Some report it as a modern epidemic. Its ribbon is grey – this is to denote the boringness of the disease with a red pin expresses the frequent blood testing.
Please dig deep, for those of you who usually buy me birthday presents, I don’t want you to this year – please donate the money that you would have spent on sponsoring my swim! If you every buy me a coffee or lunch, don’t! Instead, donate the money. If you’ve ever been nasty to me, this is the time to make up for it! If I’ve ever done you a favour, this me calling it in!