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 […]
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 […]
I always talk with my clients about marathon swims being events. Not races. They are milestones in our life, like getting married, or having kids… They become part of our being. A source of pride, a reminder of what we are capable of in tough times. But what if that event involved a close call with a squaliform that landed […]
0:25Hello and welcome to marathon swim stories, where we explore the human side, of the superhuman feats of endurance swimmers and those who support them. I’m marathon swimmer and coach, Shannon Keegan. Just me today, a bit of a summer update. First of all, if you were a guest on marathon swim stories between April and December of 2020. Your […]
I had the pleasure of catching up with Guy Davis today while he’s on vacation in Florida. The Irish born, British citizen, who spent time growing up in Africa, and currently resides in the states, finds variety his fuel. While Guy trained with Dover Solo author, Marcia Cleveland, in the 90’s, it wasn’t until 2015 that he started pushing distance […]
An endurance enthusiast, Mary Stella came to marathon swimming by way of endurance triathlon. No stranger to suffering for 14 or 16 hours at a stretch, Mary isn’t sure she’s proud of her swimming accomplishments… perhaps she just hasn’t swam long enough yet! Coming to prefer the sensory deprivation of the water environment, it’s the suffering she’s really after. Truly… […]
Today we found out more about how Stephen Rouch, who was the subject of my first Deep Dive Marathon Swim Story episode back in January, gained confidence to go for a 50 mile double crossing of Lake Memphremagog in 2019. If you haven’t heard it, be sure to listen to or watch the retelling of Stephen’s big swim! A childhood […]
In today’s episode, Marty McMahon recounts his 36 year history of marathon swimming, including all of the “things that can go wrong” – and have, for him. While Marty jokes that his life peaked in 1985 when his 22 year old self received a heros welcome home after completing the English Channel, but I think there’s a lot more in […]
I met Bill Shipp on a boat in the middle of a lake somewhere north of the Canadian border. I can still remember the sun trying to warm us despite the brisk fall morning air and the surprising calm on the water. The pontoon boat was nearly swamped, as we were way over capacity, full of cold and tired swimmers […]
Jennifer Dutton started marathon swimming across Candlewood lake in Connecticut as a teenager in the 80’s. 10 miles as part of a fundraiser swim – “Everyone did it. It wasn’t a big deal. We didn’t even train.” she says. Now a mother to two college aged kids, Jennifer recently brought marathon swimming full circle by completing 27 miles in Lake […]