Fundraising Minimum Smashed!!

The $1250 minimum fundraising amount has been reached thanks to the extraordinary generosity of my family and friends:

With huge, huge, huge thanks to:

The Federal Court and all its employees, including two wonderful judges, Pam, Mum, Sarah, Lauren, Steph, Patrick, Diccon, Laura, Emily, Reena, Emma, Lisa, Peter, Vivian, Adam, Pia, Mitchel, Carolyn, Margreet, Yvonne, Jacinta, Jennifer, Anna V, Zsofi, Urshi, Marianna, Erin, Siobhan, Dad, Isa, Alex, Tam, Airlie, Justin, Matt, Ben, Alison and Rachel.

It's been absolutely amazing how many people have come forth from the tapestry of my life and supported this event, clearly cancer is something that affects us all, even if we live without ever receiving a diagnosis.

And I assure you, the warm fuzzy thoughts of people putting their hard earned cash behind you is incredibly helpful when struggling around a buoy in cold water and copping an elbow to the googles. It is you guys, as much as the training that has gotten me through, including those whose support hasn't been financial.

I am thoroughly indebted and incredibly grateful.

You all Can Too! And now I get my Can Too Cossies. Orange. Hot!!

And the fear slowly subsides

The water is amazingly clear ...

Bronwyn Bishop becomes convinced she can too [move her eyebrows]

Oh what a glorious day!

We head to the start line

And it starts ...

photos courtesy of Oceanswims.com



Training on Saturday was bizarre. I got through the break and started swimming instead of panicking. Having been advised to dive deeper I found myself focusing on that rather than my impending drowning and for the first time ever actually enjoyed Ocean Swimming. Susan, our team captain, was totally vindicated and crowing that she had promised eventual enjoyment. I rolled my eyes at the time. How does one go about retracting an eye roll? Counter clockwise perhaps?

Then Avalon. Another 1.5km swim. Went up the day before with a colleague (the Federal Court proving a very fertile hunting ground for recruiting ocean swimmers) to test out the waves. Massive. She handled it with great aplomb included a massive wave, that came from no where (i.e. beyond the break) and blotted out the sun whilst diving underneath it, and even still swept us both up in it.

Sunday morning. Bright and early. Well bright at least, by my standards. Meet 2 fellow associates, grab a third and head to Avalon. Glorious day. Minimal wind so no chop. Convince recalcitrant associate to have a go. Her aplomb holds throughout the race and she finishes with a smile a mile wide and exclamations of never having had quite so much fun. I literally burst with pride; especially considering the nervous quivering mass I was during the first four weeks. The blokes smash the race. 30 minutes and 30 seconds and 31 minutes and 30 seconds respectively. I'm a ways behind but still improve my time from Bilgola considerably. Am totally stoked. Having never been in the second wave I'm used to my time not having to be adjusted. The blokes point this out to me and I attempt to knock them out with my flailing arms as I star jump for joy.

Mel (of World Masters gold medal glory) comes 3rd in her age category and the colleague who joined me for Bilgola is only moments behind. Impressive.

But most exciting, is that, for the first time, instead of panicking during the race, I swim. Even when I take a gulp of ocean instead of air, or someone elbows me, or swims over me, I'm totally relaxed and just keep setting a steady pace. I'm blaming this wonderful development on my lovely fellow associates. Clearly they are a calming presence.

Swim 5km in the pool. Almost non stop (I take two breathers without touching the bottom). Am now actually EXCITED for the Big Swim in a greater proportion to the part of me which dreads it. This is entirely unprecedented. It no longer looms as an impossible Herculean feat, but rather something achieveable. I guess I Can Too!! (Fingers crossed)

Past the $800 mark for sponsorship. Not sure hassling people for money isn't the harder part of the program!

Euphoric post finish line!

Oh, so that's why we're doing this

1.5km swim on Monday to try and deal with the lactic acid. Sprinted 1km which ended up at about 20-22 minutes, making the 43 minutes for the 2km in the Bondi Roughwater quite respectable relative to my abilities.

Cross training bike ride in the morning followed by 4.5km swim on Wednesday, 1.5km with the boyz (significant lapping) and then 2.6km on the trot with a 400m warm up. Passed out on couch after carbo loading.

What you really want to back up that distance with is a 2.2km session of interval training. Words cannot describe my loathing for interval training. I make sloths look particularly quick. Thus sprinting for up to 100m and then doing an equivalent distance at an easy pace kills me.

On the positive side, the method to my madness was finally brought to bear. We met Phoebe, a researcher in pancreatic cancer who outlined for us why Cure Cancer and the funds raised by Can Too are just so vital. Cure Cancer made the specific choice to provide research grants to young postdoctoral researchers. Traditionally research grants are based on experience and reputation, and in particular previous grants. Thus, it is even harder to get a start in research than those industries in which each opening requires you to have experience. Cure Cancer saw that there was particular merit in funding young researchers who may well have novel approaches and new metholodologies but had to work for others in order to get their foot in the door.

Phoebe in particular has been trained in cutting edge US technology immediately following the completion of her PhD and she choose Pancreatic Cancer because it is essentially a death sentence. There is no cure, and no effective treatment. The entire gamut of chemotherapy medications fail to act against pancreatic cancer and Phoebe discovered that this was due to scar tissue which is a co-effect of the cancer, rather than an incidental side effect. This scar tissue absorbs the medication and prevents it from reaching the tumour itself. She's developed a protein (from chinese herbs) that attacks the scar tissue allowing the medication to be absorbed which is currently in Phase 1 clinical trials in the US. Phoebe indicated that without Can Too and Cure Cancer she never would have received her first grant, which allowed her to bring another researcher on board, and put her in line to receive further grants.

She couldn't thank us enough, which made us all rather embarrassed for our efforts. It's given me renewed resolve to try and quell my fears of getting out through the break.

Have signed up for the 1.6km swim at Avalon on the weekend and have at least 2 colleagues joining me. Woot.

Fundraising has passed the $700. If everyone donates $10 we'll pass the $1200 minimum easily (which also means I get my orange cossies).

Visit http://www.cantoo.org.au/ and click on sponsor a participant and search for Price to donate.

From Lake Bondi to Bondi Roughwater

I'm the really professional looking one to the right, face out of frame. (Jokes)

The finish line, a most welcome sight!

All the Can Tooers doing the 2km swim

We rock up at training on 2 January 2010 only to discover Bondi beach has been replaced by Lake Bondi. Nary a wave to be seen. Why on earth could it have not been like this on the first week?

We do a point to point (Boat Ramp to Icebergs) and shock! I enjoy it! Without the waves I can just relax and settle into a routine.

Next Saturday is much the same, calm and relaxed. Given almost everyone is doing the Bondi Roughwater swim the next day we work on the course. Decide rip is the best option. Am now voluntarily swimming in rips. Who would have seen that coming?

Race day is brilliantly organised. Instead of the 45 minute reg queue it takes 5 minutes. We cheer the 1km swimmers home and then go warm up. Sou-Easter has hit bringing swell with it. Joy.

Hard slog out to the first buoy. Am overtaken by Mel (a friend who wins gold medals in the World Masters!) very happy to be overtaken by someone I know. Bit easier from then on. Get into a rhythm. Despite having been told it wouldn't be necessary to go through the gate (two buoys lined up) I almost run into a surf ski that tells me it is necessary. Keep on stroking. People keep swimming into, over, under and around you. Disorganised chaos. Sprint up the beach, stoked to have reached another girl in my age category. Only to realise she'd already done the 1km event.

Wow!

Last out of the water is a Can Too mentor. She's done the program before in response to a death in her family. This is her first time ever swimming 2km. She sprints over the finish line in tears. Suddenly my fears seem pretty stupid!

Be careful what you wish for - Bilgola Ocean Swim

Signed up for the Bilgola ocean swim today - on the basis of a conversation with a colleague who joined me in my madness. 1.5 kilometres between the headlands of North and South Bilgola. Cracking sou-easterly wind and more seaweed than populates the gardens of Atlantis (presuming the legends to be accurate).

I, of course, wished for a small surf with infrequent waves. Only had to duck under 4 times to get past the break- and unlike yesterday could catch a full breath between them - but had to run through about 2m of solid seaweed to get to the break. I think I looked like a creature out of Harry Potter by the end.

We started in waves: white, yellow, red and green but by the end we looked like and endless procession of traffic lights. Suprisingly wasn't the last out of the water - being in the first group probably helps with that.

People had warned me that ocean swimming is like organised chaos. They lied, it's just chaos, people swim into you, over you, around you and under you. It's hilarious because unless you are excellent at swimming in a straight line for the 10 strokes between sighting your mark, we're all interweaving like some bizarre version of a maypole dance.

You're protected by the headland for the first two buoys, but between the second and the third you are totally exposed and swimming straight into the waves. Getting a fix is impossible most of the way so I focus on the cliff. And the profound beauty of the vast expanse of water beneath me as the ethereal light dapples and dances on the endlessly shifting sands.

Couple of jelly fish. Unfortunately useless as floatation devices, darn.

Couple of inconsiderate folk breastroke, particularly around the buoys. This is a big no-no in ocean swimming as your kick extends well beyond your body, generally into the person behind you's face.

Made it back through the break, and the seaweed, only to race up the beach. God running through sand is tough. It's like ... running through quick sand. Funny that.

Rescued by parentals and sister taken to lunch. All of whom are convinced they could never do that - I didn't think I could either 6 weeks ago.

Have totally earned dessert so have two. Yay!

Week 6

Swam 2km in my practice swims and 1.9km in my training session. 2.7km doesn't seem quite so far now but it still seems like a bloody long way.

Beach session involved everyone swimming out in waves like a real race. I didn't get entirely overtaken by the fast group but I was certainly the last one in the middle group. Possibly due to hang over (5th of my life). Waves were seriously intense, we kept coming up between sets only to have to go straight back down again which meant I couldn't get my breathing right. Boo. The water was so beautiful though, sun beams came down through the water and glistened on the shifting sands. I kept getting distracted by the beauty and swimming in wiggly lines.

Sighting a buoy that's about 20cm high between waves is a very tricky business, so I decided to sight my fellow swimmers. This is problematic when they're not sighting themselves.

Have signed up for my first ocean swim tomorrow at the urging of a colleague with whom I was discussing ocean swimming. Argh. Nerves. Have also signed up for the Big Swim from Palm Beach to Whale Beach! No turning back now...

Week 5

Finally got the requisite 4 swims per week in that we're supposed to be doing. Starting to feel very at home in the water. Wonder if it's possible to devolve into some kind of amphibious creature, that would be one way to solve my breathing issues.


Swam out to the boat ramp again at Bondi. Serious surf to navigate. Got past the break and then almost got smashed by a freak wave. Utterly exhausting swimming out. One very kind person noticed how terrible my breathing is when I first get started and am totally terrified so she swam next to me so I could just sight her instead of the boat ramp and get my breathing sorted. Not sure if I'll be able to start swimming properly from the get go next week. Ride home wasn't nearly as draining as normal. Must be getting used to that evil hill!