Scott Cotten’s Swim Story
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 Niagara gorge.
Are marathon swims just stunts?
If you tell the average person that you’re going to go swim across a channel between two land masses, they’ll probably call you crazy.
But it’s not a stunt. I feel like there is so much more to it than that. As today’s guest Scott Cotten says, “You can’t just do it yourself…”
Similar to Scott, figuring out how to ask for help has been a huge part of my journey. There is something that happens in the process of learning to lean on others in a way that we hardly ever have to in our Chat GPT enabled existence that enriches our human experience. What are we here for if not to learn and grow into the best version of ourselves?
I hope you enjoy Scott’s story!
In his own words:
I’ve been a lifelong swimmer but only recently would I consider myself to be a marathon swimmer. Like many people, life got in the way of serious swimming up until our kids were older. In 2010 at 44 years old I began seriously swimming again. What started out as recreation and exercise, quickly developed into much more. My first open water event was in 2011, a 2-mile swim. After that, I was hooked. The pandemic sent me searching for places to swim other than the closed pools. That is when I found a local lake with a dedicated group of swimmers that meet M-W-F and swim from 6- 7:30 AM. This was when I really discovered the pure joy of open water swimming. There is just nothing quite like swimming and watching the sun rise!
Over the last three years I have continually challenged myself to do things that I have never done before. Each step along the way has added another layer of experience and confidence in my ability to be a “Marathon Swimmer.”
