Instructions from the general

Instructions from the general
I'm the confused one scratching my chin

The Channel Swim "WHY?"

The 1st reason

Last year in September my brother must have been bored at work and got hold of me at the office and asked,
“Hey Graeme, how about doing something interesting next year?”
I said
“okay what is it”
Spencer
“How about we swim the channel!!”
Me
“Are you nuts, what drugs have you been on?”

That was the beginning of a conversation that was to change the way my summer for 2008 panned out, much to the disgust of a few friends and much to the detriment of my socialising but hey looking at the summer so far, I suppose it is not a bad thing.

After this conversation, I started to think about where I was in life and that I was a bit overweight: clinically obese according to my doctors. At that time I was training about 10 km a week and the nurse didn’t quite know how to break the news to me about the above fact.

I was also suffering from lower back trouble and it was really annoying me, thanks to the desk job!!!!!

I am the sort of person who cannot just go to the gym so I figured that if I wanted to tone up a bit and strengthen my body in general, this might be a good plan.

The 2nd reason

The other reason I am doing this is the fact that I will be able to raise some money for the desperate people of a country that has been torn apart by a dictator. With unemployment at about 90% and life expectancy in the mid-thirties, the country has gone from being one of the fastest growing economies in Africa in the 1990s, to having the highest inflation of any country in the world, currently sitting at 1 400 000%.

From breadbasket to basket case all in the space of 10 short years.

This country is Zimbabwe, some of you might know it, some might have even had the privilege to have been there on holiday. For me it is the most amazing country in the world. A country that afforded me so much whilst I was growing up, a country I still call home and a country my heart bleeds for. It is a privilege for me to be able to try and make a difference, in any small way possible to the people, especially the old age pensioners whose pension probably equates to no more than a few pence a month, and that is for the few who actually have or had a pension.

Even for the extremely wealthy, the everyday things like going to the shop to buy milk, bread, meat, eggs, butter, vegetables, fuel. Being able to have a romantic dinner with electric lights as opposed to candles, or just have electricity for more than about 2 hours a day is only a distant memory



Butterfly training

Monday 12 May 2008

First training in Dover

This last weekend I ventured down To Dover and arrived at the beach on Saturday for my first tentative training under the watchful eyes of the General and company.
I was issued with a cap and sent on my way with some other Newcomers, not having the faintest idea how I would react to the cold or the salt water.
Prior to wading into the sea I watched most people applying grease and or suncream to various parts of their body, I opted to go greaseless and see how it all went.
After the initial wade into the sea, various parts of my anatomy disappearing wherever they disappeared too as I made contact with the 11-12 degree water, I ventured in the direction of one of the harbour walls. Surprisingly, after about 3 minutes I had settled into my stroke and was zigzagging my way in the general direction of a harbour wall. I think the zigzagging added about another 300m to my swim as my direction was REALLY terrible

The second swim of the day was about 4Km and I managed that in 56 minutes feeling surprisingly comfortable, my direction had improved and I only had about 5 mouthfulls of the tantalizing Dover harbour water.

By the end of Saturday I was feeling positively refreshed, no chaffing had occured to any parts of my anatomy and we headed for town to buy some clothes apropriate to being in the sun.

Sunday

Kick off at 10 am and the General sent us on a 6 km swim and I got into my rythym very quickly and there was another Budding solo Swimmer that paced with me so we swan the 6km together and I even managed to walk out without falling over.

All in all a Really great weekend, Met some really great people, the atmosphere is extremely supportive and The Generals Bark is a lot worse than her bite.

I look forward to the next installment.
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