Jeff Rake’s Marathon Swim Story
Today I recorded the first ever in person edition of Marathon Swim Stories with Jeff Rake.
I’m so grateful that Jeff reached out to me prior to my trip to San Diego to swim around Coronado Island. As it goes with people in the marathon swimming community, Jeff welcomed me with open arms even though we had never met in person. He invited me to swim in La Jolla cove with him and openly shared his experience from swimming around Coronado in September last year. Then invited me to the quaint cottage where he was staying to record his story.
Trying to be mindful of social distancing and recommendations to stay outside, I insisted that we record on his patio – which also felt like the perfect backdrop for an in person interview. Periodically you’ll hear the San Diego seagulls, I hope that you can imagine the breeze coming off the ocean, and that the background noise doesn’t take away from Jeff’s story.
Enjoy!
In his own words:
I’m one of countless native Californian lifelong swimmers who have taken swimming for granted most of their lives. I mean, I’ve always known that I enjoyed it. I’ve always known that my non-swimmer friends consider me to be a fish, but my swimmer friends probably consider me fairly average. My brothers – 14 and 17 years my senior – have been avid swimmers their entire lives. When we get together anywhere near water, we must swim. Find a pool, a lake or an ocean and let’s get in a workout together, let’s play in the waves. So what I’m trying to say is that it is in my blood.
As far as competitive swimming goes, I considered myself the top of the mediocrity growing up. Then when I started into triathlons in the early 90’s, I did pretty well in the swim, as the elite swimmers were either burned out or not bothering with this sport. Then I swam a couple 5 mile Ocean swims in the early 2000’s with my oldest brother, mediocrity again, but it left me wondering about going a little longer, a little more, but certainly not a major marathon. I wasn’t going to swim the English Channel or anything like that… I still didn’t really belong.
Then I got busy with kids, family life. I got overwhelmed with downturns and didn’t deal with life very well. Health problems, drinking problems, professional problems.
Then I found Recovery. When I got sober, I realized that life wasn’t over, and my health had steadily improved as well. I realized that I was still a swimmer. I aspired to do more than I had done before and set about doing it, and I wanted more. More for me, and more to demonstrate to others that life can still offer many blessings if you change the way you think, believe, feel and behave. Let’s keep going. Let’s discover what’s possible. Let’s demonstrate what’s possible.
I’m now a sponge for knowledge on how others achieve their swim goals. I want to go longer, maybe even a little colder (but not too cold). I want to do a bunch of swims all over the world. Races. Solos, Relays. I want to inspire others and help causes through my swimming. I want to keep going. I love being part of the open water swim community. I love my Recovery community. I love coaching and am trying to combine my love of swimming, coaching and Recovery to help others in Recovery discover the joy of swimming.
Now I’m excited about how much more I can do. How much farther I can go. Who else I can inspire. The swimming life is a joyful one for me. I finally feel like I belong.
Find out more about Jeff: https://iswim4.com/
