Hello, hello from rainy Southern Oregon where winter is well on it’s way. We’ve got blizzard conditions in the mountains today and rain, rain, rain down in the valley where we live. Of course, as open water swimmers we welcome the rain and snow as our local reservoir is currently extremely low. In our fire prone region, rain and snowpack […]
Today I had the good fortune of connecting with the founder and publisher of Outdoor Swimmer magazine, Simon Griffiths. Have you checked out Outdoor Swimmer magazine? More than just a beautiful periodical with pictures and stories of amazing places to swim around the world, visit OutdoorSwimmer.com for tips on how to improve your swimming, gear recommendations, outdoor swimming news, events, […]
Evolutionarily I understand that we were drawn to cross bodies of water for resources, but why are we drawn to swim across them? Marathon Swimming in it’s purest form is a reproduction of Captain Webb’s feat to cross the English Channel in 1876. Mind you, Captain Webb is described as a stuntman and later died attempting a dangerous swim in […]
What does it mean to be a swimmer? Nonetheless a marathon swimmer? When are labels important and when do they get in the way? This is a question that I often ponder. Whether reading the news, in conversation with my children, my partner, or a friend – it’s interesting to observe WHEN we’re labeling things and whether that label is […]
On today’s episode I’m thrilled to share my coach colleague, Melissa Donaldson’s story. You may recognize Melissa’s voice from the Deep Dive episode of my 22 hour swim in Lake George in 2022. Melissa discovered a love of swimming as an adult. And in just a short time she has doubled her longest swim from around 10km to in excess […]
I know I’m privileged but talking to Kim Miller about her work to end human trafficking really puts my privilege in perspective. Thank goodness there are people like Kim and organizations like Blue Dragon who are working to end human trafficking in Vietnam. What does that human trafficking have to do with marathon swimming? Just wait until you hear Kim’s […]
Have you ever bitten off more than you can chew? And then the self doubt creeps in… in your heart of hearts, you want to do the thing, but you don’t feel like you’re good enough, qualified, capable… I think we can all identify with Nadine’s Bennett’s story. Hailing from the Northumberland Strait in Canada, Nadine is an avid ice […]
Hello Marathon Swim Story listeners! In today’s episode I talk with Ice Mermaid, Melissa Kegler. After an unremarkable English Channel success, Melissa took stock of her Triple Crown and wondered what she really wanted from her swimming. This has led to a newfound appreciation for the pristine waters of the Pacific Northwest the mountains, the old growth forests, and the […]
I’m so excited to share this episode with you today. Will Hodgess and I met last year a few weeks before he tackled “The Beast”, which is the pet name for stage 5 of the famous multi day stage swim down the Hudson River, 8 Bridges. In our coaching sessions Will would pepper me with questions about mental preparation—he knew […]
Have you seen the posts in the open water Facebook groups where people share images from their GPS watch displaying shapes, figures, sometimes letters, some people can spell out entire words in cursive! Mind you, they can’t see what their drawing until they are done with their swim… Well, as far as I’m concerned, Melodee Leigel invented the sport of […]