A Swimming Challenge - Who is with Me?

Every year people come up with a resolution for the next year. That is great, but I've never been great at committing to those, but give me a challenge and I am hooked. My challenge came to me in the early winter of 2015 while sitting on the edge of the pool. My swim coach, Stacey, challenged me with the Swim Around Key West in a 2 person relay team. The distance around Key West is a 20k (12 miles) so we would each swim a 10k. For the rest of 2015 I thought long and hard about this. 

After a lot of thought I realized this swim is something I need to do. I talked with my swim friends and long story short my friend wasn't able to commit to the swim. This left me with my last option: Swim Around Key West MYSELF.

I would like to tell you that it was an easy decision to just say “oh, I’ll just swim the whole thing”, but it wasn’t. Swimming a 20k – 12.4 miles – wasn’t the tough part. The furthest I've ever swam was 11 miles (Portland Bridge Swim) so the distance didn't worry me. The tough part was all the details of getting to Key West, room and board, how to train, rental car, kayaker and can I afford it. Registration wasn’t until Feb 16th, phew I had time to figure everything out. Talking with friends, possible kayakers, my coach, relatives, research on hotels, airb&b’s, rental cars, and so much more. I then made my decision to go for it!

Starting the 2nd week of January I started training. Swimming 4 to 5 days a week, going to the gym twice a week and doing lots of research so when February 16th came along I was ready. I registered. It is done and I am on the road to training for the 40th Annual Swimming Around Key West June 4th 2016!

The training has stepped up. More to come soon about training and details, but with any ultra sport you can't do it alone. It takes a team even a community to make these things happen. I'd love your help in supporting me through this swim. Click the "Donate" button to help me raise $2,500 that goes toward getting myself and my kayaker to Key West, hotel or Air B&B and rental car.

All I need are 50 people to donate $50 and I'll have it made be one of the frist!

More details about training, nutrition, the race, swimming and much more!