Together with my wonderful colleagues, I am planning to swim the Channel from England to France this August.

------

The story:

In October 2018, I was a pretty decent breast-stroke swimmer - and generally loved any water sport. Perhaps I was also a little bit bored of only doing bicycle challenges. 

During a lunch break, the team and I were talking about silly challenges in 2019.  I (somewhat playfully) asked whether someone was keen to swim the Channel with me.   An hour later, a team had formed (I have awesome colleagues!).

That was just the start - about a month later, we had researched and met a wonderful charity, Aspire, who do fabulous work helping those with back injuries  (paralysis is unthinkably scary for anyone, and particularly, I imagine, passionate athletes). Very practically, Aspire also seemed like a serious, experienced and supportive organiser of Channel swims.

It has since transpired that this swim shall be front-crawled (which I had never done before) and, to count as an official Channel swim, must be swum in no more than a simple bathing suit, hat and goggles (in water of around 15-18 degrees, so something most people would prefer to do in a wet suit). No oils or goose fat.

I took my first swimming lessons to learn front crawl on November 28th, 2018. Such a great idea to learn something new.   But I also spent a month struggling with the feeling of drowning or fainting because I couldn't fit the breathing in while doing drills to get my body used to the new routine.   After those "drowning sessions" in a pool, I've often had that voice tell me "you are crazy, you can't even do 50 metres in a pool, how will you do miles in the open sea at night?".  But I've committed (not least to the team). And, ultimately, I figured that if others can do it, why couldn't I? (JFDI!) 

So, a rather addictive routine has set in where I swim about 3-4 times a week (which has introduced me to a lot of swimming pools all over London, Luton, Lohne in Germany, and the Cotswolds so far).  It's getting there. I can now front crawl and breathe - and I am actually starting to fall in love with swimming in that new style - but there's lots more work to do.

The training until April will focus on technique and getting the miles in (I'm dreaming of around 2 miles / hour, or perhaps (?) keeping up with the "fast lane" guys in the pool for a period of time....?). 

We are then heading outdoors - including a number of training and test weekends in the North Sea.  The ultimate test will be a two-hour swim in 15 degrees in June - and multiple big and small hurdles in between (old shoulder injuries, etc.).  

Despite the lofty dreams and plans, a part of me still doubts that I will actually make it to the start line.  It's a big first swimming challenge to pick.   But I am determined to give it a darn good crack and, in a weird way, actually enjoy the excitement of tackling something big, new and scary.  

If you would like to root for me and support my wonderful team and charity this way, I'd be very grateful for your generous donation.  I will do my best to do you proud. Thank you.