Kelley Prebil’s Marathon Swim Story

After several months of being bed ridden and in a wheelchair, Kelley doesn’t take her ability to physically move for granted! Naturally, she returned to her chlorine-y roots for rehabilitation, but it wasn’t until a her first glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge from the water that she said goodbye to the black line!

In her own words: Kelley Prebil was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. One day she suddenly experienced severe hip pain and lost her ability to lift her right leg from previously undiagnosed dysplasia. She started marathon swimming after having two pelvic reconstructive surgeries to save both of her hip joints. Several months of being bedridden and in a wheelchair made her never want to take her ability to physically move for granted ever again. She believes that anyone can be a marathon swimmer as long as they have the desire to join this wonderful unique community of challenging oneself physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Preferring to be outdoors, she also spends a lot of her leisure time road cycling, mountain biking, caving, cross-country & alpine skiing, backpacking, hiking, and trail running.

She can usually be found swimming in the waters of San Francisco Bay, Lake Tahoe, Monterey Bay, or Laguna Beach or on her bike climbing a lot of Bay Area hills. That is, of course, when she’s not working at her childhood dream employer of the California Academy of Sciences as a Senior Database Administrator.

You can find out more information about her from her website http://www.pearlsgirl.com or her blog at https://kelleyprebil.wordpress.com/