I did it! I had set a goal for myself of doing a 10k, or marathon swim, this summer. I fell somewhat behind on adding distance each week, but I was doing decent weekly totals. I had experimented with drinks and snacks, and had a good idea of what I would need. My best swim buddy had told me a few years ago that if I could swim 5 or 6 k, I could do 10, and knew I had that solid base of conditioning. Then I got scared.
Why? This was my own personal goal with no expectations of speed or fundraising or any other external pressures. Except that I was afraid I would fail in front of the friends who have been so supportive about doing this. Last week, I told one friend that I might just go and do it at my local pond when no-one was paying attention. So this week, that is exactly what I did.
On Thursday I rode my bike to the pond, and coated as much of my back and shoulders as I could reach with diaper rash cream. It looks ridiculous but it is better for the environment than sunscreen. Then I laid out four bottles of various liquids (tea, a juice, honey and water mixture, and plain water) plus a packaged of golf ball-sized energy bites and a banana on the rocks at the edge of the beach, convinced myself to stop hyperventilating and started to swim.
I went around and around in circles 29 times before the pond closed at 2 pm. I stopped about every 2 loops for a drink, and every kilometre or two for an energy ball. I ate my banana after loop 14, which was my estimated half-way point. It took 5 hours and 23 minutes, but I swam 10.5 km. Most was freestyle, but I did switch to breaststroke from time to time to rest my shoulders and back.
Diane in a blue swim cap, with the pond in the background.
I felt great! I could have gone further, had there been more time. 12 km felt completely within my abilities. My strokes were still regular, smooth, and strong. I was sore, but not in great pain.
So what’s next? I may try another 10 in the river, with friends, now that I don’t have the fear of failure. I may just do shorter swims and shift my focus to a cycling goal.
Or I may go back to my Alice Dearing and FINA watch. The Olympics have started. The women’s marathon swim is scheduled for August 3rd. Will FINA allow Dearing to wear the Soul Cap after banning it because “there is no demand”? What will she use instead? I have been checking for updates daily, but there is still no word on this.
FINA has reportedly apologized for the exclusion and invited Soul Cap to reapply for approval in September. Too late #FINA. Dearing and other athletes with voluminous hair that grows up should be able to use a #Soulcap now, rather than caps designed for Caucasian hair. If you really were concerned about inclusion, you would use the opportunity of the Olympics to encourage Black swimmers, by allowing a cap designed for their needs.
When I was a kid, we used to get two newspapers delivered to our house every day: The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail. Whenever someone swam across Lake Ontario, it was big news. This didn’t happen all the time, but I’ve got clear memories of gobbling up all the news about Vicki Keith and Cindy Nicholas.
Vicki Keith is perhaps the most accomplished marathon swimmer in the world. According to the Penguins Can Fly website, she was an unlikely athlete, last to picked for teams in school (why do they even do that thing where kids get to pick their own teams!?). But she didn’t let that trouble her. She kept at it and broke all sorts of marathon swim records. Among them: she did the Lake Ontario (54 km from the NY side to the Ontario side) crossing five different times; she is the only person to do a successful double-crossing (104 km) of Lake Ontario; in 1988 she swam all five of the Great Lakes; she is the first person to swim across the English Channel doing the butterfly; and she also did the butterfly around Sydney Harbour (for 14.5 hours). Not only that:
Vicki’s dream has always been to make a difference in other peoples lives, so, in 2005, when the need for new opportunities for children with disabilites in Kingston, Ontario became apparent, Vicki came out of swimming retirement, and spent 63 hours and 40 minutes in Lake Ontario, completing 80.2 kilometres butterfly, setting 2 world records and raising over $200,000 for the Kingston Family YMCA This brought her lifetime fundraising total to over one million dollars.
Lots of strong swimmers have difficulty sustaining a good butterfly stroke for even 50 metres. To do the butterfly for almost 64 hours and cover 80.2 km, you must really care about your cause and be phenomenally strong.
It’s no surprise that Vicki Keith has been awarded the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest honour.
Here’s Vicki Keith doing the butterfly across Lake Winnipeg:
Vicki Keith crossing Lake Winnipeg with butterfly stroke.
Cindy Nicholas crossed Lake Ontario in 1974 at the age of 16 faster than any other swimmer ever had: 15 hours and 10 minutes. This time still stands as the women’s record. She was from (and still lives in) Scarborough, Ontario, the same Toronto suburb where I grew up. Scarborough always got a bad rap from the rest of Toronto, who often referred to it as “Scarberia.” Cindy Nicholas’ success gave us Scarberians something to gloat about.
She’s a members of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada. And when I was a kid, I wanted (and got) a swimsuit just like hers. Here she is in that very suit:
Cindy Nicholas, poolside.
Marilyn Bell crossed Lake Ontario on September8th, 1954, the first person who managed to make it across. According to this dramatic recounting of the story,
Marilyn Bell waded into the frigid waters of Lake Ontario at Youngstown, NY, at 11:07 p.m. Wednesday, September 8, 1954. It wasn’t supposed to be a race, but she made it into one. The Canadian National Exhibition had offered $10,000 to American swimmer Florence Chadwick to swim the lake. Many thought it was unfair not to include Canadians in the event. Only two others took up the challenge, Winnie Roach Leuszla and a 16-year old student, Marilyn Bell.
Marilyn’s coach Gus Ryder was in a boat ahead of her. It was dark and no one knew where the other two swimmers were. No one ashore on the other side had any idea of the drama that was to unfold as Marilyn battled 4-metre waves, lamprey eels, exhaustion and numbness. Ryder shouted encouragement and fed his swimmer corn syrup from a cup.
At dawn, Marilyn had covered 22 kilometres. She did not know it but she had already eclipsed Chadwick, who had become violently ill in the choppy water. When Marilyn became numb and glassy-eyed at 10:30 a.m. Ryder took out a black board and wrote on it “FLO IS OUT.” Soon Leuszla was pulled out as well. Marilyn’s best friend Joan Cooke shouted encouragement from the boat and Marilyn started swimming again. Meanwhile, word was spreading not only across Toronto but across all of Canada. A flotilla of media appeared and tens of thousands— eventually 250,000— gathered on shore.
At 6:30 in the evening, Marilyn reached her limit and Ryder ignored her father’s wishes to pull her out. He asked Joan to swim beside her friend. Driven west by the current to Sunnyside, Marilyn finally touched the breakwater at 8:06 p.m. Because of the currents she had actually swum 64 kilometres. Pandemonium broke loose as Marilyn came ashore, the undisputed heroine of all Canada. Proud Canadians showered her with more than $50,000 in prizes and gifts.
Here is Marilyn Bell at the beginning of her swim:
Marilyn Bell about to leave from Youngstown New York, September 8, 1954. (Photo from Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame/X981.32.1.35
Torontonians were so thrilled with her success that they held a ticker tape parade in her honour:
Ticker tape parade in Marilyn Bell’s honour, September 1954, Toronto. (photo from Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame).
This summer, on August 4th, 2014, Trinity Arsenault became the youngest person ever to make the swim across Lake Ontario. At age 14, Trinity left from Niagara on the Lake and touched ground again at Marilyn Bell Park in Toronto. At 14 years and 70 days old, she nudged out Annaleise Carr who had successfully swum the lake in 2012. I wonder what these amazing teenagers have planned for the rest of their marathon swim careers?
