Jennifer Dutton’s Marathon Swim Story

Jennifer Dutton started marathon swimming across Candlewood lake in Connecticut as a teenager in the 80’s. 10 miles as part of a fundraiser swim – “Everyone did it. It wasn’t a big deal. We didn’t even train.” she says.

Now a mother to two college aged kids, Jennifer recently brought marathon swimming full circle by completing 27 miles in Lake Cochituate at her parents house. It wasn’t the swim she wanted to do this year, but with her parents, who were her first supporters, cheering her on, and her son, who she was pregnant with during one of her many Boston Light swims, kayaking for her, you can hear in her voice how special it was.

We had some challenges with zoom so were only able to connect with Jennifer by phone, so it’s fuzzy in some spots. 

I hope you enjoy this episode!

In her own words:

Jennifer Dutton (nee Spencer) had a most ordinary high school swim career in Connecticut, then attempted college swimming at Bates College (ME) after a severe brain injury during freshman orientation. That season did not go very well, but she had completed a local 10-mile swim just prior to her injury and she soon found that the open water welcomed her back unconditionally. Since then, she has gone on to complete a wide variety of challenging open water marathon swims, including three firsts in Torch Lake in Michigan, and Keuka Lake and Great Sacandaga Lake in New York.

Jen has been a high school coach in MetroWest (mostly at Wellesley High School) for nearly 20 years, and has completed two, two-year stints as an assistant coach at Wellesley College. She has been a local Masters coach for two decades and is a USMS Certified Level 3 Coach. She has two college-aged kids who swim and play water polo and a husband who is her tireless support crew.