WOW (or, I can’t believe I just swam the English Channel!)
It’s been nearly 8 hours since I crawled onto the rocks of Cap Gris-Nez, and I can still barely believe I swam from England to France. Only the pain wracking every fiber of my body makes it real – the good kind of pain, the sort of pain that makes you realize you took your body as far as it was able to go, and then kept going until getting the job done. I tried to stand up on the rocks, and after a split second of attaining vertical, ended up toppling over, slicing my both knees and scraping both palms…at which point I ended up clinging to a large rock like a drugged Little Mermaid until Neal and Karri, who swam the last 200m to France with me, pried me off for the limp back to the boat.
It was truly an absolutely mind-blowing day. I barely know where to begin.
I think it would be fun to give a voice to some of the other people involved – after all, I never could have done this without them. Over the next couple of days, I’ll give a more detailed account. For the moment, however, I apologize: I will have to leave you with a summary as my mind and body are on the way to total shut-down mode.
Sleep last night: 3 hours total. My mom and Karri were the same – we were all way too wound up! We were out of bed at 4am sharp, at the marina at 5 to 5, and I jumped in to swim to Shakespeare Beach for the start at 5 to 6.
Heroes of the day: Karri and Mom. After one in-service last night, during which Karri took detailed notes, they single-handedly performed all the duties of my support crew with seamless precision. It was as though the two of them had crewed millions of Channel crossings, even though it was their first one! No way in the universe I would have been successful without them.
Best pilot EVER: Paul Foreman. Wow. What a guy. He REALLY cares. Apart from plotting an amazing course for me, actually landing me on Cap Gris-Nez, he cheered me on, clapped, made me laugh, and intervened right at the moment when a panic attack loomed immediately in front of me. The guy saved my swim. If you plan to swim the Channel in the future, book this dude. He rocks. (So does his boat, the Pace Arrow).
Best official EVER: Michelle (last name unfortunately unknown). She gets a wow of her own! She was so perky, motiviating, reassuring, and helpful – she did her job as an official but made me feel like she was on my side. And she carried a lot of our crap to and from the boat – totally above and beyond.
Most motivating moment: The arrival of Daddy, Old Grand Dad, Neal, and Brian, a friend of ours. Just when I was thinking I couldn’t go on, the boat ferrying them out to us arrived! I was like, dude, they just got here, you can’t quit now! Not after the crazy/hectic/stressful time they went through to catch the end of your swim! Suck it up! They were stopped from getting on board our boat, but stayed right beside us to the very end.
Final time: 8 hours and 33 minutes.
Pilot critique: My feeding schedule is all wrong, and I probably cost myself over 30 minutes purely due to feeds (he thinks I’d have been under 8 hours had my feedings been faster).
So that’s the short version…more in the coming days (if you want to know more, no pressure if you don’t). Also pictures and a slide show.
THANK YOU all so much for your support! I will be echoing this sentiment, but really, you guys played a huge part in my swim today. I kept thinking about all the notes, emails, comments, facebook posts, passing good luck wishes, and calls of support whenever I started to doubt myself. I literally went through the names of every single person who has even once said something supportive to me – and it amazed me. I thought, if all of these people believe in you, why would you ever doubt yourself? They know you can do it – don’t let them down! I am so, so very grateful to all of you.