ZimHippo again
back at work after another mammoth weekend. Same story - arrived at Dover, except this time my brother,Spencer (He soon adopted the nickname Pygmy Hippo) had come down with me as he is going to Buddy swim with me for some of my trip across to France. After Introductions it was suggested that I do a 7 hour paddle as they may bring my swim forward. The conditions were perfect and not to sunny.
Pygmy Hippo swam for the first two hours (good on him, he has never done a 2 hour swim before) then hopped out whilst I carried on Ploughing the lengths of the Harbour and then on my 7th hour I had slowed down enough so Pygmy Hippo joined me for the last hour. I congratulate him on doing three hours in the harbour. My shoulders were a bit sore but not as bad as last week. Yes, I did again swear I would not be doing that again.
By now the Wives and Kid had arrived so it was off up the cliffs for a piknik and just relax, contemplating my goal. Finally headed out for a long walk and then back to the Hotels for the night.
Sunday Arrived and Guess where I went------------------------to the beach at 0830 slapped on loads of suncream and vaseline and then off for another 6 hour swim with Pygmy hippo in for 2. Today I was swimming with Greg Wood, another Aspiring Channel swimmer. This time I managed to keep up with him for the first 4 hours, he then suggested that in our 5th hour we sprint for a length. Having done loads of Pool training this is a fairly common request by coaches up and down the land, the only difference is, the pool, in most cases is only 25m long, not 1175m long. Well Greg pulled away from me in the beginning but I hauled him back in and we managed to shave about 4 minutes off our time to do one length and most proabably a couple of years off my life as well.
We arrived for our final feed on the beach and Gregs' brother Alex joined us as well as the Pygmy hippo. The Wood Brothers left me and my brother to take it really easy as my shoulders were seizing up The Pygmy hippo suggested that we swim to the wall then go in and was shouted at by me, complaining, I am not spending any more time than I absolutely have to in the harbour.
Then, according to my wife, Rachelle, at precisely 1500 Hrs, about 18 swimmers from all over the harbour arrive on the beach in unison not wanting to spend a minute more then they have to in the water.
By now a good Friend Audra had joined the wives so we all went for a late lunch then a nice 2 hour hike along the cliffs of Dover, A really amazing way to finish off an absolutely mindblowing weekend.
A HUGE thank you to all the shore team, I even managed to stay on the right side of Freda this week, there is a first for everything.
Zimhippo Signing off until next time
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
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
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