Elizabeth Almond’s Marathon Swim Story
In this episode of Marathon Swim Stories, I speak with Elizabeth Almond about denial, punching the water, accidentally swimming the Triple Crown in 84 days, and so much more!
In her own words: My name is Elizabeth Almond and I live in Atlanta, GA. I have lived other places, but native Atlantan which is quite rare these days. I graduated Emory University in 1996. I did not swim in college, but I swam Dynamo Swim Club and Swim Atlanta growing up. After college, I became a dive instructor in Mexico(Club Med), Hawaii(Beach Activities Unit Hyatt), and Grand Cayman(Red Sail Sports). While in Grand Cayman, I was working a private charter for Delta Air Lines. I told them I was coming home and didn’t know what I was going to do. They offered me a job and I worked as a flight attendant for the next 8 years in Portland, Oregon, NYC, and Atlanta. They offered a retirement in 2006, so I took it and went to pharmacy school to get my Pharm D(Doctor of Pharmacy). After Pharmacy School, I needed a new challenge and a hobby. One day I picked up competitor magazine and saw an Iron Girl Sprint triathlon at the lake in 2012 and I said I am going to do that this weekend. I had not swam competitively since 8th grade, I didn’t have a bike, and was definitely not in run shape, but I signed up and picked up a rental bike on the way to check in. I didn’t do well, but I was 2nd overall female out of the water. I decided to get in shape and start racing triathlons as I didn’t know what kind of swims were available for adult swimmers. I am not an early birdie, so master’s was not an option. I went on to complete several 70.3 and a couple full Ironmans before my doctor said you can’t stand on your feet 12 hours a day and continue to race like this. In the middle of the Ironman’s, I found Swim Around Key West. My husband said you can not swim 12.5 mile by yourself. He wanted his friend Justin to do the swim as a relay with me. I agreed and Justin and I took 3rd place in 2013. I was hooked on marathon swimmming. Justin never wanted to swim again . I came home and started looking for swims. I found this thing called Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. I was kind of grossed out, but intrigued at the same time. I knew I was not ready for 28 miles, so I kept searching and found Swim Around Charleston the same summer 2013. After the thrill of Iron Man wore off, I decided to pursue the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim as I had heard of it. Tampa Bay cancelled that year. However, while training I met a guy at Lifetime that trained in the outdoor pool all winter. I was intrigued and said I bet I can do that. We started to become friendly as i was the only other person swimming out there. That is when he told me about SCAR and winter swimming. I made sure to mark my calender for SCAR in 2017. Signed up, met a bunch of people, learned about a lot of events, and the rest is history. I left a very stressful job that had never allowed me to train properly in 2017. I took 2018 off to rest and recover from burnout. In 2019, I swam 20 bridges, Catalina, and English Channel in 84 days.