I worked hard for this in 2019, and now I know my capabilities. Thank you to BlueSeventy for sponsoring this series of open water competitions. You made me work for it!
We have a family curse not unfamiliar to millions of Americans: alcoholism. Especially for the males on both sides of my family, the drink has really challenged the men. My maternal uncles came through it using the 12-step program. My father quit at age 76, cold turkey, after a cascade of serious health problems delivered the final ultimatum: quit or die soon. One aunt by marriage somewhat recently had and survived a liver transplant—which is fantastic. But my brother, Brion, is on a different and heartbreaking journey. As I write this, I’m at home in the PNW while my mom is at Brion’s bedside in a San Diego hospital based (inpatient) hospice. Things are so fragile. Time is short. I’m still processing what I’ve witnessed in the last few months and the progression to this present-day byproduct of alcoholism: hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) at end-stage liver disease from alcohol-related cirrhosis. Our family members got a crash course in all the processes, medications, terminology, trea...
Jersey UK, Summer 2022 MV Lionheart, our pilot boat It has begun: Another year of training this middle-aged bod to be athletic for a long San Diego swim. I say that in relative terms. “Long” isn’t doing the entire English Channel, but it’s not a 5k goal either. In 2013, I had yet to swim a straight 5k! In 2021 I finally edged up to 18.6 to swim around Coronado. I thought I was sated on marathon swimming until I signed up for another route in San Diego that intrigued me: Pt Loma to Ocean Beach, aka The 15k PLOB. October will bring this adventure, with swim pal Becky tandem-ing the entire route alongside. I’m thrilled (awed!) to swim this very cliff-lined coastal route and see a part of San Diego from an angle I’ve yet to see. Since mid-December I’ve been grunting it out at weekly CrossFit p/t, sprinkling in swims and additional gym workouts, and focusing in on nutrition. The ravages of perimenopause are sucky! It takes all the interventions to feel normal, let alone athle...
You had me at "current assist." Yeah the distance between the Golden Gate Bridge and the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge is 10k/6.4 miles-ish, but timed to swim inland on a moderate flood tide you get a nice little ride. For bigger tidal exchanges you get an even faster ride! The COVID-19 scare was just setting in when we did this swim--March 8, 2020. Initially it was to be four Seattle swimmers on a charter with SF's The Pacific Open Water Swim Co. Fees were paid, flights were purchased and hotels were booked. The very swimmer who initiated this idea ended no going on the swim and stayed in Seattle with concerns about the pandemic. The other three of wanted to jump on the chance to do this swim before we were mandated to quarantine, which is exactly what would follow weeks later. Swimmers Clare O'Connell, Mitchel Schoenfeld and I piled into an Uber and made our way from the wharf to Sausalito in still dark morning. We had our flight carry-ons and the boat crew protested it w...
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