A Golden Moment, Upchucking And All!

As I write this post I am nursing a nasty headache which has refused to shift all afternoon...I've tried the nurofen approach, the go to bed and sleep it off approach and even the pressure point pinch approach (which I was introduced to last week by my lovely friend Helen)...this involves squeezing the buggery out of the point between your thumb and the closest finger (is that the index finger?) as this apparently relieves headaches...it worked earlier in the week but is not having such an affect today.

Where has this headache originated you ask?  Well, today was D-Day in my ocean-swimming calender, the Cole Classic event which I have been "training" for over the last few months.  My journey this time around has bit a bit of a shamozzle...I didn't gel with the group very well (my social anxiety played a part but it was also because of some failings in the leadership of the pod) and by mid January I was feeling very stressed about having to show up for training with people I thought were dicks and didn't really enjoy being around...and given this activity was supposed to be contributing to me feeling GOOD about myself I decided that something had to give and I dropped out of the programme. 

Although this meant that I wouldn't be part of the "group", it didn't mean that I hadn't fulfilled my commitment to raising funds for Cancer research and I was still planning on doing the Cole.  As the weeks have passed I had talked myself out of the latter and even as late as Friday had decided to ignore the cap, timing chip and ankle band hanging on my desk whiteboard and just let the day pass without participating.

As is often the case with moi - a person of occasional bouts of procrastination followed by rapid-fire action, that all changed yesterday when I decided that I really had nothing to lose...so I pulled my head out of the sand, metaphorically washed the grit out and put into place our action plan to get down to the beach early with my support crew in place.

Unfortunately the parking fairy was distracted this morning and our plans to converge on Manly beach as a family unit were scuppered.  Instead I was dropped off, feeling nervous and self conscious as I stripped down to my cossie and walked around to Shelley to wait for my "wave" to be called.  Due to the aborted family plan, this involved standing around in the heat for over an hour with no hat and thus I think that irrespective of my 2km of gruelling ocean swimming the die was cast before I even dipped my toe in the water....headache of epic proportions!

Fate was shining on me though as I stood in the blistering sun as I was approached by my lovely compatriot from last years Cole, the angel that is Liz (that would be another Liz not me having a headache induced out of body moment).  She recognised me standing forlornly on my own and we agreed to stick together and conquer the Cole together again.  It was so lovely to have someone so pleased to see me and throughout the swim she continually checked I was doing okay and reality is if she hadn't been hanging back to stay with me she would have done a much faster time. 

I swam quite comfortably for the 1st few "cans" and was using two different mantra's to distract myself from thinking too much about the distance - "I can do it" and "I love swimming"....they worked a treat until we got to the 3rd buoy and I started to feel a little nauseous...figuring I just needed a good burp I kept on swimming and despite a few said burp's, the nausea didn't pass.  Finally as we approached the 2nd last buoy I felt that familiar sensation from last year's Palm to Whale...the infamous upchuck in the deep!  This time I have to say I felt really bad and the retching was very painful, my stomach cramps made me feel miserable and once again I had the aid of an understanding bloke on a surf ski to offer me his condolences and the lovely Liz to hold my hand whilst the retching continued. 

For a moment, I did voice the idea of going in on the surf ski but within another minute I felt things settle and having been in this situation last year I knew that I could go on...so with another pat on the hand from Liz and encouragement from the surf ski bloke I took off knowing I had one more 'can' to round before I would be swimming for shore.

As we approached the break, Liz reminded me to look behind lest I get unceremoniously dumped on the way in, we got to shore and gave each other a huge hug before holding hands and running up the sand through the gate to finish.

It was not my finest hour in a swimming sense, I was completely buggered but it was nonetheless a truly golden moment, one that I think gets to the heart of Henry Miller's quote which you may recall I talked about when I started this process.

Upchucking in the ocean is something I would prefer to avoid in future so I'm considering if my ocean swimming career should face early retirement...in the meantime I'm savouring my golden moment and nursing my headache with a smile on my face.

I should also include a postscript that Saint Mike and the girls were incredibly proud of mummy when they picked me up at our rendezvous point and even though they weren't there in person they are always my rocks!

Across The Line

Sorry it's been a long time between updates...life seems so much busier this year than last...I don't know how I managed to find the time to send out so many updates!

This is just a quick post to let everyone who may stumble across this blog and wonder where the hell I have got to with this endeavour that I'm still on my way (in one sense) as the Cole Classic is the 1st week of Feb...so I'm still "in training".




In another sense though, I'm across the line!!!  That would of course be in relation to the financial side of the challenge...I have raised $1670 thus far and am very grateful to my financial supporters for getting me to this very satisfying figure :)

As mentioned, training continues, I'm doing 2km in the pool when I manage to get there, following the black line as they say...did you know that the breathing in swimming is quite meditative?  This may come as a surprise to those who are not strong swimmers, but it explains why I find the whole thing so relaxing, it's all in the breath!

My speed has not improved and I think I missed a great career as a true long distance swimmer as I'm really the proverbial snail but my natural buoyancy comes into it's own and I can just go and go and go...now if it weren't for the need for the toilet break at the end I'd never get out.

CanToo 2010/2011

The author, Henry Miller once said  “Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognise it as such.” 

This "living in the moment" can be really hard to do in reality....in 2010 I've had plenty of moments where I had trouble scratching through the surface to find the golden moments.  The thing is though, they are there and I just need to always remind myself that this is what nails were invented for...if you stop biting them long enough to use them!! 

Completing the Cantoo Ocean Swim program in 2009/2010 was truly a golden moment for me.  The sense of achievement from realizing my goals as well as the enormous satisfaction of raising not just my "base" level of funds for Cure Cancer but doubling that figure was hugely gratifying...and I had all my loyal supporters to thank.

In signing up for this program I am excited (and terrified) about re-doing the Palm to Whale Swim despite knowing the toll it takes on my body (if you haven't read about it, click here) and I'm also really motivated to achieve my fundraising target once again.

Our "pod" leader last year was Richard.  During the course of the program his mum came in to speak to us.  She had very advanced cancer and was quite frail.  Her pride in Richard was accompanied by her gratitude and respect for what we were doing...go figure!  I felt humbled to have met such a brave woman...and it motivated me even more.

Cherie lost her battle with cancer in April this year.  In doing the program again this year I will be thinking of her and all the other friends and family that I have who have been touched by cancer.

Cherie was one of those people that Henry Miller was talking about - she always behaved like she was having a golden moment.   You can watch Cherie in action here

The End Is Only Just The Beginning

Ocean Swimming Update #5

Hello everyone,
As some of my avid fans have noted, I actually had my name in ink in todays Sydney Morning Herald as one of 3328 official finishers' in the Cole Classic...though I know many of you enjoy my imaginative turn of phrase, I'm basically a bit buggered so will quote the SMH instead: "Relentless rain, pounding surf and the threat of bluebottles could not deter the thousands of hardy souls who gathered at Manly yesterday for the 27th Cole Classic ocean swim....Diehard competitors showed why the adrenalin rush and exhileration of ocean racing is growing around the world. It was a celebration of the lung-busting, limb-aching art of swimming in the sea".
Now, just a bit of trivia - there were 4500 registered starters for yesterdays race...and only 3328 official finishers. Conclusions to be drawn:
a) They'd heard about my Big Swim chundering and decided it was better to stay in bed than have to swim through my chum contributions!
b) They're a bunch of "soft" sydney-siders who have never experienced the gripping temperatures of Bass Strait all along the beaches of Victoria where the hardened ocean swimmers are raised
c) both of the above! In my case, it's a bit of a case of channeling the inimitable style of Frank Sinatra (sung to the tune of My Way): Yes there were times, I'm sure you knewWhen I bit off more than I could chew (or keep down for that matter)But through it all, when there was doubt (and there was loooots of that)I ate it up and spat it out (luckily in no specific direction)I faced it all and I stood tall (thank god for photoshop).........................I did it mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy waaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!
To be honest, weather conditions yesterday were not that frightening to me....they bore a striking similarity to any number of days all the Victorians on this email list can recall experiencing when on holidays down at Portsea (Harold Holt didn't disappear in that surf for no reason) or in my case, camping at Ocean Grove Caravan park with assorted other pleb's!! Manly was resplendant in miserable grey skies, seething inky surf (do you like that?) and more big wave surfers (who'd obviously had a late night on the magic weed) than you can poke a stick at!
My support team sensibly decided to ditch me for breakfast at the golden arches (see photo) and I walked from Manly round to Shelley Beach where the race was to depart from feeling amazingly calm. In many ways, it felt like just another training swim...which meant I could enjoy the experience and not feel too stressed! The race itself was a pleasure, I swam with a Cantoo buddy - a lovely girl (40+) who is petrified of big surf and is quite phobic about getting into the water but despite this had swum multiple ocean swims over christmas/january including last weeks Big Swim. We decided that we'd try to stay together and did indeed manage to do so, overcoming numerous overzealous swimmers who attempted to divide us, and even some who swam almost over the top of us! I think I showed true restraint and composure in not adopting the sort of "take no prisoners" approach that I am known for on the roads!!!
We ultimately completed the race together, coming out of the water and holding hands as we ran up the sand to the cheers of our Cantoo comrades...even got our names mentioned by the announcer as we crossed the line!!! Is this the time I remind everyone that my family was NOT there to cheer me on....clearly those Canadian's are too soft to stand out in a tiny bit of rain with three children for a couple of hours...on a beach...in the rain...not allowed to swim...soft I say!! Only joking, Saint Mike has well and truly earnt another halo to add to his growing collection over the last few months!
My final observations on ocean swimming deal with the issue of booeys (or "cans"). Is it perhaps a bit uncharitable for me to suggest that the use of these instruments of mass confusion is an issue that is just dying for some intervention? Let me paint the picture for you all...imagine yourself, out in the big blue yonder, courageously attempting to navigate your way around a swimming course whilst remembering to breathe, not do breastroke (big no no), and of course the obvious...NOT DROWN...and you've been advised by your coaches to remember to "sight the booey" as you crest the wave. Firstly, I don't crest the wave...I tend to sink into submission over the top of it when in that fraction of an instant I'm supposed to use my core strength (which I still haven't located) to rise up, head out of the water and look for my marker booey. Secondly, has no one noticed that these "marker booeys" don't mark very much at all when you're in the water and therefore your line of sight (via your head that is hopefully above water and not submerged) is approximately 25cm above the surface of the water. Oh, and let's not forget the water is MOVING and I'm moving and this does not necessarily enable my 40 yr old vision to focus on anything through my steamed up goggles!! No sooner do I think I've sighted something vaguely booey-looking than I'm down in another trough and trying to swim back to another one of those bloody crests!!!!
So, it strikes me that this is yet another area where the common sense unique to us feminine of the species has yet to make a break through. For goodness sake, let's get a marker booey that has some floaty balloons on it, perhaps with messages of support along the lines of "I'm over here you idiots" (note to self - reconsider supportive language). Now that would be useful. Instead, we have fluoro pink and orange colored booeys that still can't be easily seen and hence I tend to resemble a yacht (wish I physically had those sleek lines!!), desperately tacking my way towards the booey!! Booooo for the booooooeeys!!!!!
On that note, a high point of my canny observations on the joys of ocean swimming I shall leave you....but not before I mention the most fantastic thing of all about this entire experience...as of today, I have been sponsored the amazing figure of $2,440 by all of you generous readers! This is above and beyond what I expected and just goes to show why I should ditch expectations completely and absolutely!!
Cantoo is an amazing organization, staffed by fantastic people and supporting equally fantastic researchers into many areas of cancer study. I feel honoured to have been able to contribute to their cause by my efforts and thank you all for your generosity and wonderful words of encouragement.

Hello All My Loyal Supporter

Email Update #4
Hello to all my loyal supporters...and all the other hangers on who have just been too polite to tell me to get lost and stop emailing them these diatribes!!!
A wise woman is apparently quoted as saying: "The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences." Somehow I don't think Eleanor Roosevelt was referring to a 2.7KM ocean swim...but I'll ride on her coattails anyway! Those of you that are more attentive will recall that when I embarked on the Cantoo Program my goal was to swim in the Palm to Whale Beach Big Swim (2.7km) and the Cole Classic (2km). Those not so attentive will have tuned out and not noted this fact at all...in fact they've probably hit the delete key already! As my training progressed I started to feel quite anxious about both goals really, but particularly about the Big Swim. Reliable intelligence had alerted me to the fact that this event is not called "Sydney's blue ribbon ocean swimming event" for nothing! Competitors have to deal with challenging swell conditions (think sensation of being in a washing machine), swimming at times almost alone out there in the big blue yonder (all sensible surf life saving craft tend to avoid said washing machine areas), potential for sea-sickness (and the associated vomiting), potential for nasty biting bluebottles and potential for being stuck quite far out with nasty stinging/hurty body........lots of potential really but not the sort that was making me feel very "glass half full"!!!
So, at about the christmas point, I had talked myself out of doing it. However, I wouldn't be me (and those of you that know me know that!!!) if I didn't tend to swing from one extreme to the other and as the swim approached I decided to quite literally take the plunge and register anyway. Perhaps I have consumed too much chlorine and sea water because I decided that despite the negative potential, there was also the possibility of immensely positive potential (even if that involved being hauled onto an inflatable rescue boat by two fabulously gorgeous life savers!!!).
Consequently, on Sunday 31st (that would be last sunday) Mike and I made the trek up to Palm Beach for the Big Swim. I affectionately (no really) nicknamed Mike my "handler" for the day and in my nerve-wridden state I certainly made him earn his bonus (which he will be asking for shortly!!) as he lathered sunscreen on me, gave me lots of water before the race and then accepted my dire instruction that if he failed to get a photo of me actually finishing the race his life would not be worth living (aah the joy of marriage!).
I will summarise the race as having three parts...these can be respectively referred to as pre-chunder, chunder and post-chunder (I'm nothing but not expressive!!!!)
Pre Chunder: Milled around amidst a pack of purple-cap wearing "mature" ladeees, whistle went and we ploughed into the surf. Lot's of heavy breathing (no life savers involved) and out to the first booooey. Had been told to consider this a "warm-up"! Next phase, towards the headland (refer attached map), this is where we had been told to "go wide" to attempt to avoid the backwash coming off the headland that can make it very treacherous (think washing machine analogy). Continued to swim, at times looking down into veeery deep water with dark shadows appearing and tried to keep sighting my marks to make sure I had not commenced swimming to New Zealand instead of Whale Beach!
Chunder: Elapsed time approx 45min, 43.5min of that had been in swell with lots of uuuuup then doooown then uppp then (splat) down all the while attempting to keep my stroke under control and not resort to some sort of stroke that could be confused with drowning. As I was considering the fact that I was sure I'd been looking at the same house up on the headland for at least 10 min and that geez I was quite buggered, my stomach decided to take matters into it's own hands and give my mind a bit of a distraction....by chucking up! Now, I know this is a revelation to some, but you can actually vomit whilst face down in the sea and it actually comes out!! I must say it's pretty hard to have a good cry when you are floating a kilometre or so out to sea, so after a nice word of encouragement from the guys (not half naked) on the IRB (that's inflateable rescue boat) I took off again...
Post-Chunder: Re-grouped and made for the final turning boooeey (or "can" if I'm being a smarty pants) and headed for shore. Could see the Whale Beach surf club and some rather nasty looking white water breaking and knew this would not be pretty....body surfing is something I'm going to have to take away from the Cantoo program assessed as "enthusiastic, but needs improvement" and sure enough, I was ingloriously dumped onto the beach...not to be dissuaded, I leapt up and believe it or not RAN up the sand to the cheers of my Cantoo support crew (not really there just for me but you know what I mean) and through the finish gate. My hunky handler was waiting with lots of appropriate words of comfort and congratulations and for once (sure to be received with amazement by many of you), I was SPEECHLESS. Mike thinks I barely said a word for 20min I was soooooo buggered!!!!
So, there you go...one down, one to go!! Cantoo journey is almost complete, the Cole Classic beckons this Sunday with quite alarming swell conditions currently buffeting Manly beach bringing with it a good number of those slimy suckers that I have so far avoided in my ocean swimming shenanigans...the Bluebottle. Assuming that some of you foreigners won't be familiar with the term, it is defined as a small jellyfish with a string-like stinger...it comes in large numbers usually and has a nasty propensity for wrapping those string-like stingers around your arms/legs/down the cossie and giving you a very unpleasant electric-shock sensation which leaves you looking like you've been whipped and feeling like you've been burnt...nice eh?

Last Sunday, whilst I was battling the conditions in the Big Swim, these little stingers made mince meat of competitors at beaches up and down the coast...but a little thing like this shall not deter me from tasting sweet success....................is that completely delusional or what??????????? Thanks again to all of you who have so generously contributed to the Cantoo cause - it is amazing to see the figure keep rising and I am so pleased you feel my pursuits deserve your support. Don't forget you can still contribute...you all know the drill http://www.cantoo.org.au/ Final update next week if the bluebottles haven't paralysed my hands!!!!!!!! 

Excuse Me Whilst I Fish The Sea Lice Out Of My Cossie!

Email #3 2009

Hello everyone!
Bet that subject matter got your attention...just one more of those interesting facts of ocean swimming that are being revealed to me...but more on that later! The countdown is on - just over three weeks to go to the Cole Classic when the elite of ocean swimming...and the not-so-elite will take to the sand and launch themselves into the fray.
With the frenetic christmas period over, it is time for the next instalment in my gripping struggle to attain that unreachable goal....okay, okay, getting carried away! Good news firstly - thanks to the many generous recipients of this email I have reached my minimum commitment of $1250....YEAH! For my efforts (and yours), I am now the proud owner of a fancy pair of Cantoo swimming togs - Orange (naturally) and black with plenty of Cantoo branding on the front and posterior which is only fair enough. Now, this wouldn't be any fun if there was no background to the cossie which I know you will ALL want to hear...so here goes!
On the Saturday of the week I hit my "fundraising star" target I was given a clear plastic bag containing my special cossie (a special cossie for a special person :)). As you can imagine, once home I jumped into the shower (refer previous emails for what I wash off aside from sand!!) and then made the dash into the bedroom to excitedly pull on my new cossie and get a look at my Cantoo majesty in the wardrobe mirror. Picture me, ripping the plastic bag off and pulling out my little bundle of lycra only to unveil........................... A PAIR OF MEN'S BUDGIE SMUGGLERS!!!
Now, I wouldn't be holding up the stereotypee of the irreverant ocker Aussie if I didn't take this opportunity to conduct some cultural education for all those recipients of this email NOT from our sunburnt shores....so FYI, the item that I was given is also variously known by the idioms "dick stickers"..."banana hammock"...or "slug huggers". Bottom line (excuse the pun) is that I had been inadvertantly given a pair of MEN'S speedos!!! Whilst I often think that my BMI (translation = basal metabolic index for the non-diet savvy of you) should be calculated on a MALE bone structure as I am completely screwed by my "heavy bones" as my mother fondly referred to them as, a pair of male speedos would do very little to corral those generous "gifts" from the boob fairy that were so kindly bestowed on me....I may have been loitering at the shallow end of the gene pool when they handed out light bones but I was swimming in the depths when they moved on to the mammary glands!! Consequently, men's speedos wouldn't be a good look...not on a thin day, not on a "I haven't eaten carbs in a decade" day and certainly not on a "three children later and those scales are definitely faulty" day!
Some of my humorous Cantoo cohorts asked if I tried them on at least..........aaah....NO! I just put them back in their little baggie and sent a VERY diplomatic email to our team captain suggesting there had been a mix-up (are you all surprised I COULD be tactful and diplomatic????).
Anyway, I was eventually given a swap and opened them in front of an audience of fellow participants who all wanted to check I'd finally got the correct pair! (Clarification from final proof-read of this email, that's "open" NOT tried on in front of fellow participants!!!) In the spirit of a superhero, the power of the lycra convinced me that I should see where all this training has got me and challenge myself to a "trial" swim prior to the Cole....so on Sunday, I took my place on the starting line (or actually a little ways behind it) at the North Bondi Roughwater 1km Ocean Swim...impressive title eh? The water was actually anything but rough, it was a beautiful morning, clear blue skies and crystal clear water...at least until we got past the first boooey (as they call them) and then it changed to a bit of "chop" (ocean swimming parlance for windy, bit of up and downy water, making it hard to breathey and making you a bit sea sickey!). That being said, I felt fantastic as I steadily made my way around the course and having decided to give it my all, actually RAN out of the water and across the finish line!!!! All jokes aside, if you want to learn the tricks of ocean swimming such as sighting landmarks, stroke technique etc then Cantoo trains you VERY well! As preparation for the 2km Cole Classic, it was a fantastic trial run and I was very pleased with myself...my cheer squad of Mike and the girls were suitable impressed too!
Now, I was going to educate you all on Sea Lice, but I've exhausted myself (and probably you) with all those images of my boobs, so I think I'll save the sea lice for another email!!!!

Update From the Trough - 2009

Yes, that's "trough" as related to waves and the ocean...this is not a pre-christmas over-indulgence update!!!! Four weeks into my CanToo Ocean Swimming Program and I thought it was time to send you an update!
Thanks to all of you who have sent words of encouragement, and special thanks to those of you who have pledged...it's very nice to know that I have both your good wishes and your hard, cold cash!! In short, I am coping well with the amount of time I'm spending in either the pool or the sea water...but my hair is leaving a lot to be desired! Frankly, if cancer wasn't such an attention-seeker, it would make sense for Can-Too to spend it's money fundraising to explore why swimming caps have not evolved to actually keep water out...isn't that what they're meant to do??
More on this later in the email. Our program has consisted of training swims each Wednesday evening in the pool and Saturday morning surf sessions down at Manly Beach. The pool sessions are quite daunting (in addition to that small matter of the anxiety of exposing your flesh to a group of random strangers). My coach is Ashley, who is young, fit and very knowledgeable...would you believe that after all my years of confidently surging up the pool a la Esther Williams (does that make me sound REALLY old??), I find out that I'm not "catching" efficiently and I have a non-textbook arm movement where my elbow refuses to bend. To address this and other "weaknesses" in our stroke, we have the pleasure of doing various "drills", so rather than just following the black line for an hour, we have lots of variety and get completely thrashed by the lovely Ash (a girl by the way as you could be thinking she's a he!) It's been fantastic to get some focus on my technique and I am taking onboard (don't you love all these nautical references!!!) her coaching and am definitely getting FASTER and swim fit!!!
Now, that would be a good thing if I was planning on swimming 2km in the pool...but unfortunately then we move onto the surf! Where do I start. Week One we were given a lesson in entering the water. Should be quite simple you say, just wade in, jump over a few waves, perhaps dive under a few bigger ones and then start swimming........................................NOT! Firstly, we were taught the importance of "wading" into the water (this is where we attempt to imitate an ironman (or woman as the case may be) and kick out from the knee as we leap over the small (knee height) waves. Our coaches were positioned so we waded out into the water, then went across the waves around another coach and then waded back into shore (about a 150m circuit).
On this day I wore my heart rate monitor and let me just say that if you think this is a piece of cake...think again!!! Trying to maintain my composure whilst running towards the water as my cossie crept up my butt and my thighs flapped about as I leapt over waves...then gamely waded across the water to the other marker, then making for the beach and trying to look like I wasn't about to collapse as I ran up onto the sand (a requirement not vanity!) was a memorable experience....we experience this glory about four times before they decided we'd caught on sufficiently!!!
Next was "dolphin diving" which I am a HUUUUUGE fan of...this is where you are mostly UNDER the water and avoiding being slapped in the face by the surf as you dive under the waves and make progress out past the break....relatively easy and definitely better for my image, any wobbles are conveniently concealed by the WATER!! The other great fun is using the rips to get out faster and then avoiding them when you're trying to swim to shore...so to all my overseas recipients just remember, the rip is your friend!!!!!
So, once we got out past the break (in the first couple of weeks it was just the above drills with no real ocean swimming to speak of), we then launched into some distance. Week 3 we did a swim from Manly to Shelley Beach with a small stop for breath in the middle...this was a swim of 1.5km in total...Yeah!!!! We were all very chuffed with our progress. Now, whilst I am TRYING to focus on the positives of ocean swimming (seriously!), there was a slight issue that we couldn't see very much in the water because of an "algae bloom" which affected visibility and to make things even more interesting, means you end up with little bits of green goop stuck to your hair (despite the swim cap) as well as this same determined goop finding it's way into our cossies.......boy was that a fun shower afterwards....say no more!
It was a great achievement knowing that with only 3 weeks under our belt we could already knock off 3/4 of the Cole Classic! Last weeks surf session was held in a rather strong swell and despite this we did about 1600m. This time it was doing a circuit out from the beach and around a couple of "cans" (ocean swimming jargon for marker buoys!!!) and then back in...utilising all of our acquired skills to date. This was a much tougher week because of the requirement to incorporate the dreaded wading and dolphin diving into our swim. The entire circuit was 400m and we did it four times!!!!!! Am I an amazon or what! As we swam out to round the cans, I noticed how far down the anchor ropes went...we were swimming in VERY deep water.
Now, those observant people on this distribution list will have noticed the absence of any reference to sea creatures of the biting, nipping variety...this is NOT a coincidence! We were told in the third week (the goopy one) that if we felt something tickling our toes (yes seriously) it was only a "noah" and we should just kick it away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is what hardened ocean swimming types refer to as a "little" shark...apparently a "curious" baby shark!!!!! Momentary panic was then overcome by the realization that if it was my time to go, at least it was doing something enjoyable (aha) and no one was nagging me for something to eat/drink or to remove something from their hair/limbs/ears/nose/nappy! Suffice to say, no Noah's were sighted and so far they've kept their distance.
In conclusion (yes I'm finally finished), I will revisit the subject of swimming caps...!! As if they were not appealing enough in their natural state, the Can-Too swimming caps are BRIGHT ORANGE...I'm talking fluorescent (photos will follow eventually to demonstrate my point). To add insult to injury, with all the thrashing about in the water that we're doing, I emerge at the end of each session with my swimming cap askew and bearing a strong resemblence to a device which I will not mention as this email goes to both my mother AND my mother in law!
So, when you are considering whether you have exhausted your charitable contribution bucket for the year, think of me wading out of the water at the end of the Cole classic, with algae bloom in every nook and cranny, my goggles completely fogged up (that's another subject entirely), my legs wobbling and my FLUORO orange swimming cap bobbing about on my head....and dig deep for the sake of my dignity................!!!