Swimming in chocolate......

So tonight is not really how I'd planned it. The image in my head definately involved some post swim shenanigans with the bottle of prosecco in my bag and some equally triumphant Marc Jenkins lookalike.
Cork is still firmly in the fizz however and assume the Mark Jenkins lookalikes were all taking cover. (Probably with a Helen Jenkins lookalike....) - from the WEATHER you evil lot, not my advances!

Two rows with my brother about the pile of bags meant it was time to unpack, something we didn't have time to do yesterday.
Then what should I find in my Stella McCartney 2012 Olympic swimbag? .........the Olympic size bar of Toblerone I had bought as a pre swim superstition on the way to the lakes!

Happy Days!!

Tried to convince Nathan at B-Physical that this was the ONLY size available........

He wisely decides that an angry woman does not need to be separated from her bar of chocolate and comments that "Bloody Hell they gave you a laptop?" I decided to take this as a professional blind eye to cocoa based indiscretion this evening..........

Yes probably an indiscretion I will regret at 3.30pm tomorrow afternoon while "unloading" the pre event carbs and generally taking my anger out on the crosstrainer rather than watching BBC2, but hell hath no fury like a frustrated swimmer.

I also tried to convince Toblerone that this bar was jinxed and perhaps they would like to be the official sponsors of my next foray into open water swimming? ........still waiting for the reply.





Gutted like a fish.......

It's been pretty hard to write this post. We had no sooner arrived in Grassmere then we received this:

BRITISH GAS GREAT NORTH SWIM ONE MILE EVENT CANCELLED ON SATURDAY 23RD JUNE

Dear Sarah Bosomworth,

We regret to inform you that the British Gas Great North Swim one mile event at Windermere on Saturday June 23rd has been cancelled.

The decision was taken this afternoon by the independent event planning group, as the weather forecast for tomorrow predicts strong gusting winds, which are expected to ease overnight on Saturday.

Strong winds affect the ability of the safety kayakers to operate and also may make swimming conditions extremely challenging.

The programme of events is intended to continue as planned on the Sunday, although we regret to inform you that you will be unable to transfer your place to the Sunday event.

_____________

Obviously safety has to come first, we could see for ourselves that the weather was pretty awful and it's never easy to take a decision to cancel such a large scale event with so many people's expectations riding on it. We were mostly annoyed that the decision was not made to reschedule an entire day of events. 6mths of training, the expense involved, people's expectations of us not to mention the money we'd been sponsored were all weighing heavy on our minds. In some ways it was easier because the decision was out of our hands, we hadn't pulled out, we'd done the training, we were as ready as we could be in the time we'd had. Still you feel a certain pressure but often you are your own harshest critic. Nobody has so far asked for their money back, everyone has been really understanding but there's obviously the disappointment for us that comes with not reaching a goal that you have set for yourself.

Here's a few pictures to prove that we were there!

The security guys let us see the start line but we wont be crossing it in 2012.......

 

This is as close a I got to swimming greatness....... this time!

What you can't see in the pictures is the howling wind and intermittent monsoon like downpours, it was also freezing cold (Hence the hoodie & jacket sumo look) and that was on dry land!

Then we tried to drive home........... :-S

Wished we'd asked British Gas for a lift home, they must have known something we didn't:

 

All in all it was not exactly how we'd planned to spend the weekend, to say I'm gutted is pretty much an understatement but these things happen, that's life, no matter which language you speak.

Time to retreat and regroup.

C'est la vie

Che sarà sarà

Fried or Frozen?

Woke up Friday morning feeling nervous, one look out of the window and it was not looking good. It was never going to be an easy challenge but swimming into wind, having waves crashing in your face as you're trying to breath and having the water temperature drop at the last minute are not added difficulty factors that as a novice you want to have to deal with.
Still we'd taken it on and now was not the time to back out. It was time to start packing!

Breakfast of champions.............

Jessica's response to the proposed Olympic nutrition plan was "I don't like porridge and I don't like pasta....... but you can bring me a banana!" I notice that she complained less at the proposed hydration plan:

OK so the prospect of carbs after 2weeks of restrictions has got me a little bit over excited!

The weather forcast for the weekend is pretty terrible so in true Great British Summer style it's unlikely that these are going to be needed:

Jessica doesn't help matters by posting this weather update!

But we're British and used to it, (Wishing I still lived on the Mediterranean at this point!) so it's time to bring out the stiff upper lips and get on with it!

Having sorted out my wetsuit dilema earlier in the week thanks to the guys at OverlandUnderWater I now have two options......... (The lesser of two evils)

Olympic triathlon suit that I am super fast in doing free, (Which I can manage for about 50m) and that ensures I can't lower my feet below the water doing breaststroke OR the new thinner suit that has seams behind my knees which I'm pretty sure I am going to be cursing halfway round. It's thin enough to allow me to swim breaststroke but possibly also thin enough to ensure I end up in hospital requiring a thermometer somewhere I don't want to contemplate!

Still the weather forcast predicts lightning so it might not be that cold after all. Hopefully the timing chip in our swim caps will act as a lightning conductor! :-S

.....hopefully baggage label will not be put to it's "other" use!

7 days left, maybe I should make a bucket list.....

It's now exactly 7 days before the big event and at the time of writing; this time next Saturday I will hopefully be about 200m offshore! Last night's practice has not really done anything to calm my lake jitters. I don't doubt I can do the distance ......in a pool! I do doubt that I can do it in a wetsuit in a lake :-S
I spent most of last night fighting the fact my wetsuit would like me to do 1600m of free and my body has other ideas. I've spent 6mths perfecting my breaststroke only to realise that the buoyancy pannels in my suit are being a little bit counter productive. My backstroke is not too bad but I'm no Liam Tancock and the lack of pool ceiling is defo a directional issue. Total swim last night was about 200m, which is less than ideal! Hopefully adrenalin will be my friend and my general refusal to let things go will see me through on the day.

Still atleast I am some way towards getting over the fear of putting my face in with the fish..... :-S Well until I actually come across one that is! *shudder*
Hopefully 10,000 swimmers splashing about will have frightened any would be toe nibblers to the other end of the lake. (That's fish before you say anything about Fergie type scandals!) Or maybe the fish in Windermere are used to it, like the giant pike that frequents Ripon Lake as a wannabe member of the triathlon club! *Double Shudder* I'm resisting the urge to "warm myself up" in the lake incase that attracts them, the way it does with sharks, just to be on the safe side!

On hearing there were a pair of Orca's in the water, the North Yorkshire branch of

Greenpeace was put on standby...............

Nope, no fish here.........

Postie has just been with an ominous looking large envalope:

No idea what this could be!

Atleast the red cap compliments my suit! ......and my toenail varnish.

(Helen Jenkins might be fast but I bet she's not this coordinated!)

Just wondering if this will be used as a toetag if in fact I do succombe to the cold, the fish, the Weil's disease, the knackered shoulder, the knackered hip, the elbows of other swimmers etc.

(Pretty sure there weren't this many hazards when I jumped off a mountain!)

So with 7 days left of life as I know it, it's probably time to write a will bucket list....... 

Things to do in the next 7 days:

* Fly to Switzerland and hide

* Marry David Beckham

* Get lunchtime lipo

* Spend all my money ........because I'm sure as hell not leaving it to you lot!!!

* Remove all skeletons from closet

* Provisionally book the bagpiper (I want Highland Cathedral either at the wedding or the funeral, which ever comes first!)

Hmmm not an awful lot to do. I think the reason I don't have a bucket list as such is that I am busy ticking things off that I want to do as I go along. If you leave it until you have "a list" you may never get to do all the things you want to in life. I think the lesson here is that life is short and it's meant to be lived while you can. Don't put off until tomorrow things that you can do today (unless it's the ironing) and don't be afraid to grab opportunities that come your way with both hands. Yes I might be a little bit mad, but I have few regrets and a great memory bank of experiences.

Let's hope that this one's not the last! ;-)

All being well at the time of posting, in exactly 7days, the finish line will be in sight!

Carpe Diem
Or maybe that should be "Do or Die" !!!



End Polio Now

Ok Here's the serious bit...............

The reason that I'm torturing myself with the swimming quest is to raise some funds for

End Polio Now.

You can sponsor me here:

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/justkeepswimming

Funds raised will go to End Polio Now via The Rotary Club of Knaresborough

Last year (2011) I worked in Nepal for three months as a volunteer. One of the projects I was invited to take part in was a national immunisation day organised by Rotary International in partnership with Unicef, The World Health Organisation and the Nepalese government.

On one day alone in Kathmandu (12th March 2011) local healthcare workers, Rotary and Rotaract volunteers enabled 2647 children to be vaccinated for free against polio.

In the 20yrs that Rotary has been running the End Polio Now / PolioPlus campaign more than 2.5 BILLION children have been vaccinated against an entirely PREVENTABLE disease. It's one of the few human diseases that we can actually eradicate and would be only the second time in history that we have managed to do this.
The difference between receiving a 20p vaccine and not receiving it can be catastrophic for children living in countries with no free or adequate healthcare and if they do survive their lifechances without a welfare state to help them are pretty poor.

The difference 20p can make....................

As a qualified early years professional, I believe very strongly that in the 21st Century when we have the scientific and medical knowledge available to us, ALL children have the right to free and adequate healthcare. No child should have to suffer from an entirely PREVENTABLE disease.

 

You may have seen or heard the coverage on the BBC back in February when the BBC correspondent Fergus Walsh reported live from Dehli just as India was declared Polio free.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17099418

February is traditionally the time when Rotary promotes it's work to eradicate polio during it's "Thanks for Life" week. Hence the Rotary Global Swimarathon which took place on 25th Feb 2012 and is set to go ahead again 23rd Feb 2013! This does not mean that the work doesn't go on year round. It's estimated that a child in India will need to be vaccinated 8+ times before they become immune and although there are only three remaining endemic countries in the world, outbreaks do occur in previously polio free areas if immunisation levels drop.

So why all the fuss about Polio?
Polio is a debilitating disease, in some cases it cause paralysis and in some even death. It's highly contageous but it is easily preventable and the nature of the disease means it is possible with enough will to eradicate it completely. For me personally, raising funds for End Polio Now by swimming is entirely appropriate as the main way the disease is spread is through contaminated water.
Putting the "Plus" in Polio Plus.......
The massive organisational effort that has gone into identifying outbreaks and organising vaccination programmes has created a worldwide infrastructure which would not be so well developed had the
PolioPlus programme not come along. The "Cold Chain" which allows temperature sensitive vaccines to be delivered to people even in remote villages has created a lasting legacy for other vaccination programmes. Identifying children that need vaccinating in countries where birth certificates are not common and people don't even know the exact date of their birth has also been a challenge, mobilising local volunteers particularly women has also done a lot for female empowerment and led to general improvements in child and maternal health.
Ewan McGreggor presented an interesting documentary on this called "Cold Chain Mission"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gw5vj

To read more about the work Rotary is doing to end polio there's more info here:

http://www.rotary.org/en/EndPolio/Pages/learn.aspx

So anyway serious bit over, if you would like to sponsor me the online donation page is running for 18mths so if you'd rather wait until after I've (hopefully!) made it then that's ok too, it doesn't have to be a lot, every penny counts :-)

Fundraiser profile page - BT MyDonate

Rubber and Rat Pee.............

Ok so the time has come to face down the demons. It's a month to go and there is really no more procrastinating to be done. Time to order the suit. *cue dramatic sinister music intro*

Didn't really expect to get it right the first time, or even the second time, OK four suits later and it's time to panic!! Nobody looks good in ankle to neck neoprene, not even Marc Jenkins....... Ok maybe Marc Jenkins. Incidentally he's married to the only woman in the UK who also looks good in rubber, they'll probably have genetically modified offspring evolved to also look good in it.

................The rest of us mere mortals? Not a hope in hell!!!!

The best you can hope for is that it fits, that the legs are not too long, or the arms too big, that it fastens round your chest (triathletes are clearly lacking in this department....) and that you're sufficiently choked so as your very expensive piece of kit doesn't become a very expensive water scoop. You may also find yourself ordering industrial strength lube........... The kind you really want to buy online rather than over the counter at the chemist!

This comes under the heading "Things I wish I'd known before I agreed"

Halle Berry in cat woman I ain't, neither do I feel any sense of empathy with Ms Berry for what it took to get in and out of all that rubber. Still that's not the reason we're doing it is it?
*tries to sound convincing*

Suit trauma aside for the minute, what most triathletes and hardcore open water swimmers do is jump in bare foot, hell they even jump in minus the wetsuit where possible!
Me? Not so much. Not that I am unwilling to become a hardcore open water swimmer, or that I can't stand the cold, more to do with USFCs (Unidentified Squishy Foot Contacts) *shudder*
Unfortunately as our rivers and lakes have become cleaner, so the chances of coming across another living creature that does not require neck to toe neoprene have increased.
Remember all the screaming hysterical celebrities on that jungle programme? Not cool when you're in a lake full of hardcore swimmers and trying to attract the likes of Marc Jenkins (In the least attractive out fit you'll ever own!) to run from the water screaming like a girl.........

Luckily the nice people at Orca have invented these (the boots not the eel!):

They were on order before the suit was! As I pointed out to someone on twitter, I'd rather swim naked than shoeless.....

FINALLY with a suit that just about fits, shoes to avoid USFCs, tinted goggles for the sun (Yeah that's what's cursed the weather!) and gloves which may or may not make the final ensemble; it's time to take the plunge! (Into the rat pee, Weil's disease infected, fish riddled world of the open water swimmer.)