Catch-up drill

I’m really bad at this whole blogging thing. I want to remember the tedious details of training for this swim because I truly do realize what a privilege this opportunity is.

Since my last post I: cohosted a fundraising event at Lindsey’s salon, my fundraising total is up to around $2,700, I’ve done a 7 and an 8 hours training swim, I kayaked for Becky at Portland bridges (tons of fun), helped kayak for a Catalina relay (where I unceremoniously fell out of my kayak before the swim even started) and just 3 days ago I did a 9 hour training swim.

Prior to the 7 hour swim I had done a 5 hour swim, but my 6 hour swim got messed up due to weather and then Kevin and I both got sick. 7 hours by far was the hardest for me, but it was still fun and a great learning opportunity.

The 8 hour swim was easier, but it still came with its own set of challenges. A couple of weeks prior to it Kevin was injured, so I put out a call for help and had a little bit of a different team to help support this endeavor. I started out swimming with Pearl and Dan kayaked for us, then Yiga got in the water with me (on Kevin’s paddle board) for 4 hours. Dan and Yiga will both be on the boat supporting me for my channel swim, and I so appreciate their time, patience, and help. For the last 2 hours Kevin and Becky got in the water. This is when I felt the best. I was so happy to see Kevin genuinely smiling and back on the water and to have Becky to follow for the last couple hours.

The 9 hour swim though? That was great. We met at 4:30 and Dan was in the parking lot to say hi to Kevin. He left and went and met a swimmer he was kayaking for at the boat launch ramp. We all reconvened in the water until my pace picked up. We swam to the north end of Torrey Pines. The water was a couple of degrees cooler up there and the currents were strong. Some spots felt like I was swimming up hill. By 11 we had made our way back to La Jolla Shores where we looked for Becky, but didn’t find her. After about half an hour we swam towards the cove (where she found us). Then we swam straight out for a mile and then back in. My total swim time was about 8:36 but the missing time (to make it a full 9 hours)was spent treading water while we looked for Becky. I swam 14 miles that day and I felt great.

I know that Catalina will be hard but i am really looking forward to it and I feel confident that I can do it!