Time is drawing near!!

 

May is VERY fast coming to and end and it seems like Summer has come and gone. In the life of a marathon swimmer, this is of no consolation as there is still about three months of the "British Summer" left. No matter what the weather is out there. in the words of  Dori from Finding nemo, I have to "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming  swimming swimming. What do we do? Just swim swim swim." That has been a bit hard over the last week or so as I had a Wedding in Scotland to attend over this past weekend.

It was an awesome weekend spent with amazing people, both old and new. Spending a bit of time in old stomping grounds. We were at Fort Augustus, on the south Western tip of Loch ness. An area I know pretty well as I have spent time Kayaking that stretch of water , the Caledonian Canal, and I have also cycled most of that same stretch on my Lands End to John O'Groats journey. I would also love to swim that whole stretch at some point, but may have to settle on swimming Loch ness.The area brought back lots of happy memories.

 

Whilst there was a Lot of eating, drinking a revelling with a different group of people, most of which I had never met. It was great.Yes it goes without saying, like most, if not all of my friends, they think I am completely nuts and also a bit awestruck at the same time, by my meagre dalliances into the world of endurance sports. May have even recruited a few takers for a Caledonian canal Kayak. Suffice to say, there was very little training done. Apart from a 4 - 5Km run with My friends Roberta and Robin. Thank you guys, YOU KNOW I DO NOT DO RUNNING!! Good ploy to get me down from my roomat 7am in the morning on the premise we going for a nice walk. I think the lack of training might have been just the thing I need as my shoulder was giving me a bit of trouble so the rest, I hope, has done it the world of good.

Crash bang into this, a 4 day week for us, after arriving back home after midnight on Tuesday morning. Um------ Can someone tell me where the first 5 months of this year has gone? Six days until my first substantial swim of the season. Last night I managed to book a place on it. Cutting it a bit fine, with entries closing today, but hey, I am the king of procrastination now. My start time seems to be 10.30 am. it is a point to point swim from Maidenhead/ Taplow to Eton. It seems that the Race HQ will be at the end rather than the beginning. This is where I will park and catch a bus up to the start. If there are people who want to park at the start that will be fine, Ican ferry you back to your cars after the race.

Please go to the following link for Maps and spectator details Jubilee swim

This is 9.83 km and you will be able to follow the whole event bar a couple of hundred metres along the river throwing things at me. Should you arrrive late and want to walk up the course to meet me coming down, that will be fine. I am sure that I, and my entourage, will be pretty visible. I seriously doubt there will be any swimmers in the water with bright ORANGE budgy smugglers. Weather forcast for the area can be found at Met Office It is looking like it will be a lovely day for a stroll along the river and if some of you want to bring your bikes, that is also an option.

How will I do?

 

Your guess is as good as mine. I suspect, with the meagre amount of training that I have done, (please bear with me on this comment, I know others that are doing way more training than I am, for much shorter swims). I will be swimming for between 2 hours 30 min and 2 hours 45 minutes. I hope it might be faster but we will have to see on the day. Depends how many wetsuits I have to drown and swim through along the way. Looking at the starting list there will be about 60 individual swimmers and then a whole lot of relays. Sadly, this will not be a fast swim for me as it is my first first substantial swim of the season, so will not be pushing myself to breaking point. I would rather travel slow and keep my shoulders for 2 weeks later in the sea. They will take more of a hammering in there. 

 

I anticipate finishing at about 1pm. After which we can head out and look for a pub to have some food. I think I might need some after that.

 

I am looking forward to seeing as many of you along the way as possible. My friends and supporters are what keeps me going and I love having you all there.

 

 

Fund Raising.

 

My Fund Raising page remains open and after the initial flurry I got off to, a great start, and I would like to again thank all that have donated money already. I am still a long way from my target and I am hoping that time will prove my friend on this front. My Fund Raising page is  

                              ZIMHIPPO FUND RAISING

I look forward to all the support you can give me and I welcome even more the funds that are being Raised. It goes without saying that the Old age pensioners that we support will be eternally grateful

to all the funds that we, as a team are putting together. 

 

 

My quote for the week is very pertinant ot me at the moment. I would like to share it with you all

It is not so much our friends' 

help that helps us, 

as the confidence 

of their help 

Epicurus