Hello again all
Have just had the most tiring, amazing, emotional weekend in Dover. On Saturday morning at 0700 Hrs I bundled my wife and my kit into the car and headed for Dover for what I thought would be an fairly easy training weekend as My swim is still about 9 weeks away. Upon arrival, the rain had arrived and it was terrible whether so my wife opened her eyes looked at the weather and say good bye to me and fell asleep again.
I headed for the beach and Freda gave me the opportunity to do a 7 hour swim, I was a bit distressed as I hadn't trained for a week but agreed anyway. In the water at 0900 Hrs Swim for 2 hours then in for a feed, the weather getting better all the time, this played on my mind as I had not put any sunscreen on my back. I also got attacked by a seagull as I had a chocolate bar which I carried with me and was snacking on it,holding it above the water whilst treading water with my other hand and feet and this Bloody bird came to try and steal it from me, now there is a way to really piss off and aspiring channel swimmer. The feed interval was every hour until 1500 Hrs then back in for the final hour, I only did another 30 minutes then snuck out of the ocean undetected as the ever watchful eyes of Freda had disappeared for a nature break. She got back to see me on the beach and I got an earful, all in gest. The great thing is I had done my 6 hour qualifying swim - about 22km
I left the beach swearing blind that I would not be swimming the next day, went for a great walk on the cliffs with my lovely wife/bank account damager/taxi driver ( she loves these Dover trips I swim while she shops.) This followed by a dinner with some other Channel swimmers, The king of the channel (Kevin murphy) and his wife included and Rachelle was picking their brains on feeding techniques and the ever present question WHY DO WE DO IT??? In Kevins case WHY 34 times. This was followed by a walk along the beach and then back to the hotel where we bumped into another International Channel swimmer, Stanley Paris, who is due to do his crossing this week, and at 71 will be the oldest person to do it. I SAY GO FOR IT STANLEY.
Sunday and guess what, I trudged off to the beach to go swimming again. Today the weather was greatly improved and it was fairly calm. I was given another 6 hour swim. With the way my shoulders and arms were feeling I thought Freda was being a bit optimistic. She did however state that she wanted me to swim it so that if the opportunity arose to move my swim forward then I would be ready.
Well same story at least this time I put sunscreen on as I was sporting an amazing Tan on my head and burnt back from the day before. Swim for 2 hrs then feed then feed every hour, until you are allowed out, I say allowed because after two hours I was pissed off and wanted to get out but the shore team coaxed me back in every time and then 5 hours and 55 minutes after I set off I decided I had had enough and headed for shore only to be shouted at again and told my 6 hours was not up yet and the shore team were not entertaining any arguement so I headed out to sea for another 2 and a half minutes before turning around and heading in.
All in all a great weekend for me and a milestone in my life so far.For those who know me, who would have ever beleived that I would one day be attempting a Channel swim. For anyone out there who might beleive that they could never accomplish something like this I would say Just make a decision to do something like this, you will be truly amazed at what your body and mind can do once you set the wheels in motion, a year ago I was completely unfit, my body suffering from 10 years of general abuse and now at 33 I am the fittest, and fattest (have you ever seen a slim whale?)I have ever been. The one thing I am really proud of is the fact that I have not touched any supplements, vitamins or pain killers and Long may this continue.
Till next time Zimhippo signing off
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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1 comment:
hie, you are an encouragement to all fellow zimbabweans. thanks for putting thought into action. you have my support all the way. stay strong and just remember your efforts will be rewarded.
fellow zimba-chick
ps: any chance for a swimming lesson?please
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