Narranderra 10km swim.

On the road to Gundagai

The big one. 10km. 5 x 2km laps up and back of Lake Talbot – a flooded creek outside of Narrandera. Bondi to Watson’s is nominally list as a 10km – but I don’t know anyone who has recorded that distance. (I understand there are insurance implications for owning the actual distance)  Nonetheless great to get an official 10km swim under my belt.

There are exactly  4 x 10km swims in the entirety of NSW across the entire open water swimming season (October – May). Only of one which gets a featured spot on oceanswims.com (Bondi to Watson’s). One is an obscure Penrith swim in November that clashes with a featured 5km (Umina), one is the Vladswim organised laps of Balmoral at Christmas (both of which clash with Can Too) and the other is Narrandera. A tiny town an hour to the west of Wagga Wagga.

Having said that, demand for these swims isn’t exactly huge either. Despite there being no boat or paddler requirement (the swim provided paddlers for you) there were exactly 5 swimmers doing the swim. 4 from Sydney and 1 from Dubbo. The race organisers knew our names, ages, and everything was exceptionally well organised.

We were paired with paddlers, who set up our feeds (feeds!! luxury!), herded down the astroturf lined steps into Lake Talbot to start bang on 9am.

Wollongong Swim

First lap, everything feels tight and I realise I’m in trouble having gone out too hard at  the 1km Wollongong swim last night.

I become obsessed with trying to get my stroke perfect which for me means:

• breathing every 3 strokes
• breathing into the “bow wave” meaning neither my goggles nor my mouth emerge more than halfway from the water
• head positioning whilst in the water (look down),
• –rotation, rotation, rotation
• a full extension with proper hand entry in the 4 o’clock position (my right hand does some kind of flamboyant wiggly thing upon entry)
• –proper catch – as though your arm was going over a barrel
• –fluttering kick (I have a fairly kick driven stroke, ordinarily long distance swimmers aim for a 2 beat kick but I think I’m a little faster – not necessarily a good thing)
• –engage core (crucial in flat, fresh water) to ensure buoyancy (your arse should be in the air, wiggling around like it just don’t care) and reduce the drag of your legs.

Needless to say, on occasion, this all went to crap. But this is what keeps me occupied for most of the long swims. Chloe McCardel, legend long distance swimmer whom I met at a university debating tournament in 2004 when I printed her swim schedule for her, was once asked what she thinks about when swimming. Music? World Peace? She replied she’s too busy thinking about her stroke. What her head, arms, body and legs are doing. That endlessly repeating check list is absolutely the best way to pass the time.

Despite everything being tight from the get go, it never descends into pain and on occasion it actually feels good.

The water is more transparent than Cohuna last week but I still can’t see my Garmin in the water so I’m reliant on my distance alarm to tell me when to feed. I feed every 1.5km. Ordinarily you’d grab your bottle, roll onto your back, take a few sips and swim on. The lake is so short you can stand for feeds. It takes me about 4 goes to work this out. Not exactly Channel rules.

I change paddlers 3 times over the course of the 3:52 it takes me to swim 10km. Each time they are just so encouraging and lovely. They’ve never met me and volunteer to support the town’s Riverina Rush sports festival. Amazing.

Round and round we go. Luckily the lake is surrounding by beautiful bushland which gives you lots to look at. Sighting is incredibly easy in the flat water and with the rainbow umbrellas of the pool complex behind the buoys at the far end staying on track is pretty easy.

On the third lap I am lapped by the leader, who turns out to be the only other female in the field. What a great way to celebrate International Womens Day! She later tells me I looked more relaxed than any other swimmer she’s ever seen. Out for the equivalent of a Sunday stroll / swim.

This is a good thing.

By 7km I’m yet again, feeling fine and stronger than throughout the race so I start putting the hammer down. The entire 8km up to the turning buoy I inch towards the next swimmer ahead of me. He swims incredibly wide (my coaches were all in my head emphasising the importance of sighting and being thoroughly vindicated) whilst I swim straight as an arrow. He stops to feed at 9km (having only fed twice in the race). The best advice I have received is feed early, feed often. Those feeds you don’t feel you need in the early stages really pay dividends towards the end. So I skip my feed. He again swims wide and I catch him, with a 20m buffer as he needs to straighten up. And I fly home.

I struggle to stand up on the steps though. 10km is a bloody hard slog!

Presentation ceremony. I get to stand on a dias! Who saw that coming? And then there was a lot of watersliding at the super cool waterslides of the Lake Talbot Pool Complex. 

 Bonnet Breakfast of Champions!

We backed it up with the Broulee swims the next day. Awesome swims and awesome road trip!

Melbourne Madness!

First time out for this new, privately run swim at St Kilda. 5km followed by a 1.2km. Luckily for me it was disorganised chaos as my flight ran late. Floyd is a swimmer and promoter and suffers a rare blood condition so organised a swim to raise funds for Royal Children’s Hospital.

That is not nearly as easy as I might have made it sound and the whole thing ran horrendously late but everyone's attitude was to be admired.

The 5km was 4 x 1.25km laps around St Kilda Bay which was a gorgeous 20 degrees but wetsuits were the order of the day – and I followed the trend. It ended up being about 5.6km as one of the turning buoys was so close to shore it had to be moved as we were all stroking the sand as we swam by. Some amazing views, the far industrial shore of Port Phillip Bay. Luna Park. St Kilda “surf” club, the beautiful pier and the long beach. Love a good view.

I was very, very ready to finish and finish last.  Hopped out and the race organiser offers 400m entry. So off I go again. Had a rubbish start. But a great hit out between the 5km and 1200m. And wonderful swimming without the wuss suit!

Very high knees required for the very long sand bank

Yet another lap for the 1200m. Had a cracking race. Thoroughly startled by the fly board (you know the water propelled pack James Bond uses in Thunderball – yeah that) which makes the weirdest sound through the water.

The photographer took a photo of a twist in my strap rather than tell me ... 

Finally finished an hour and half after anticipated and head to Echuca for the evening.

up early for the Cohuna (another hour’s drive) Bridge to Bridge.

This swim has been running for 21 years down Gunbower Creek (an offshoot of the Murray River). It starts at one bridge and finishes at the main bridge in town 8km later.

The current is an unbelievably huge advantage in this swim. I was incredibly stoked to finish the Cole Classic 9km in 2:51. So you can imagine how incredibly excited I was to finish this swim in 2:22.

Swimming down a river is a delightful, peaceful experience with ever changing scenery and unusual challenges for an ocean swimmer. Fresh water so no buoyancy. Every single swimmer bar 2 wore a wet suit to cope with this. So, yet again, I did too. 

One of the things I love about swimming is how little kit is required. Goggles, cap, cossie. Sorted. Not so as you progress but I digress.

Sighting an endlessly shifting water course is totally different to sighting a headland or a buoy. Luckily, for the entire swim I had a lovely swimmer, Lauren, within sight and her dad paddled just behind her making a relatively easy mark. Swimming over submerged logs made for a fun obstacle course.

But the hardest thing was the opacity of the water. I wear my beloved Garmin 910XT in almost every swim. It was my birthday present to myself last year when I did the Can Too run program. It’s a cracker of a GPS watch, and the most accurate swim watch going (according to the experts at 4Seasons). It does loose satellite reception disturbingly often but when the water is so murky you can’t see your hand in front of your face it doesn’t really matter. I really had no idea how much you sight  using underwater markers. Very discombobulating.

As I said, swam the whole way with Lauren in sight, finally caught her at the 1km mark and we spurred each other to sprint to the finish (which was a boat floating next to the bridge).

So lovely to have company. And not only that, we weren’t last! Second and third females overall.

Such a wonderful way to see a whole new part of the country. Super friendly country hospitality – everyone was delighted we’d come from Sydney. Not to mention the Devonshire tea!

We returned to Melbourne via wineries. One of which was literally out of wine, but very pretty 

nontheless. 

9km Cole Classic

So, as soon I got back to Sydney I started thinking about the 9km Cole Classic swim from Dee Why to Manly. This seemed out of reach for two reasons:

(1)   It requires you to have a support vessel (motorised boat of more than 3.8m); and

(2)   The entry form makes it appear as though you have to have done a 10km open water swim or a timed 10km pool swim;

neither of which seemed obtainable.

Whilst I had trained adequately for the double 5km swim I hadn’t trained adequately for the 9km. So I put the idea to one side. Until fates came a knockin’. Do not try this at home!

The 9km had been called off twice last year. They were keen for swimmers. So the organisers called Nick who had entered last year and let him know that swimmers of the same pace were now allowed to share a boat. Enter Fyso.

It turned out our previous 5km swims were enough to get us entered and SJ and husband Matt came to our rescue with the boat. I was keen to have a crack at the solo, but we had the option to convert to the duo if our respective injuries came to the fore.

Race day dawned utterly perfectly. Full of nervous excitement Fyso and I headed to Dee Why and meet fellow 4season swimmers Pete and Nick. Seriously great company on the start line.

Race start for 9km is a very slow affair. Normally everyone attacks the water as hard as possible. But for 9km everyone is conserving energy so only the young guns aiming for a place go hard. We head to the first buoy to meet our boat. No boat. We wait 10 minutes and then head to the second buoy off Long Reef. No boat. We hang with the jet ski and prepare to be told we have to swim in as it’s a strict race rule you have to have a boat. Somehow, miraculously, another boat comes to our rescue and agrees to crew us. At this point we’re 15 minutes behind the peloton and were already the slowest swimmers so the course sweeper can both crew us and pick up the buoys as we pass.

We are unbelievably stoked at our incredible luck but about another 1km in we realise this means no duo option and swimming 9km without any of our carefully planned hydration / nutrition.

Recalling Coach Kingy’s stern “HTFU” whenever I stood at the side of icebergs in the pre-dawn winter gloom I dug in for the long haul.

And what a haul it was. The water was glorious, the view stupendous, the real estate verging on the obscene as it verged onto the cliffs of the northern beaches. We cleared the Curl Curl buoy (half way) at about 1.5 hours and were between Curl Curl and Freshie when I realised we were flying not just swimming. The currents and tides were all in our favour. Our best case scenario was finishing at 11:09. (21 mins / km). The best case scenario was fast becoming a worst case scenario.

Come into the Freshwater buoy Fyso takes a longer line and all of a sudden we’re no longer going stroke for stroke. I make sure he’s in sight, enjoy the view with a bit of backstroke until we hit Queenscliff. I expected to hit the wall at 7km. Instead, I felt the best I had all swim. So I decided to buckle down and go for it. My stand in coach for Can Too that week, Victor Lee, had finally managed to teach me how to breathe properly, breathing into the pocket of air created by your bow wave during the week so I focussed on this and my stroke and put the hammer down.

At the last buoy we said goodbye to our fantastic boat, and the swimmer ahead of me decided to have his final feed. Sucker.

I crossed the line 3^rd last in 2:51. 18 minutes ahead of my [very] stretch goal and an hour and nine minutes ahead of my “don’t get disqualified” goal. Fyso crosses 2 minutes later. We are both on cloud 9 (km swim).

Thanks to all of the amazing support. Including Cap’n Matt whose noble vessel failed to launch and the incredible boat who came to our rescue. And especially Fyso. 

Palm to Whale and the Penrith Swims

So it turns out there are well run 5km swim in Sydney. They’re just not well advertised. And held in Penrith.

The first of these was the Bridge to Bridge on January 27 – the day after Palm to Whale. I’ve written extensively about Palm to Whale before so I’ll quote facebook statii and talk about the Little Big Swim. Last year was the worst head space I’ve ever had going into any swim. I was knackered from getting endlessly slammed in the break zone with my mentee Silpa. See photos:

Afterwards:

“Well today was a case of mind over matter. And matter nearly won. It was a case of go hard or go home. And I just wanted to go home. But wearing the Can Too cossie meant having another crack. And 9 minutes, 3 tries and 4 start waves later I finally made it out. Turns out I Can Too. I am so proud of everyone who turned up - in weather like this you deserve a medal. I don't care how far you swum - you're all heroes for not going back to sleep!”

So Silpa and I faced the Little Big Swim with some trepidation this year. She was a trooper, facing 6 foot surf I struggled through in a wet suit. And she rightly pulled the pin when she stood of the precipice of getting out and got swept backwards by a big ‘un.

At which point I faced one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made. I was through the break, along with Margie and Kay and decided to keep swimming with them. Thank goodness for the Can Too coaches who stepped in to make sure Silpa was okay.

Margie was off like a shot so Kay and I swam on, collecting friends and followers. Kay has phenomenal surf instincts and so she, Gail and I navigated the return break like pros whilst those ahead of us got completely, totally and utterly slammed by enormous sets. Such horrendous luck. Once we hit the sand bar the surf threatened to slam us again, but thanks to one of the Can Too coaches we navigated it with ease. Then we were running up the beach – smiles wider than the surf zone.

 

My turn – Palm to Whale. Had another hard time getting out. But didn’t panic, took it easy, and despite badly misjudging the required depth, got out in reasonable time and was rewarded with making oceanswims.com. Basically – ocean swimming celebrity. Woot.

Started reeling in those ahead of me. Caught Sophia going round the first buoy. Super smiley buoy. Caught Kellie as she was involved in a three swimmer pile up because some doofus didn’t look where he was going. Cheered Mel around the final buoy. And then I was home.

And for the first time I’d enjoyed Palm to Whale. So it was all about the finish.

Including a few double dips at finishing.

Onto the Penrith swims.

These are held at the International Regatta Centre. The water is a bit manky and it’s fresh so no buoyancy assistance whatsoever. There is quite a bit of weed, which I imagine is much like being attacked by a Grindylow out of Harry Potter. Thus justifying post-race Hermione style hair.

Bit tricky backing up after the Big Swim so I went out really easy from the deep water start. 3km loop followed by 2km loop. Was feeling really good coming into the 4^th km and ramping up when, 60m short of the turning buoy water safety came up and told me that half an hour had expired since the winner crossed and my time was now up. WHAT THE? That makes the time limit 1:33. Jeepers!

They let me swim home, and given I was then 100m short they not only recorded me as having finished, but I also won my age category in both the 3km and 5km swims. (Technically I guess I also lost my age category but whatever).

Crazy.

The second Penrith swim was the Western Sydney Open Water swim on 8 February and it was brilliant. $10 for 5km. $2 per km. Unheard of. This time they provided caps and bussed us to the start of the rowing straight and then we swam around the island. Nice scenery and the rowing lanes can be sighted under water making staying straight a breeze.

I whinged about the water quality last time, but actually it’s fine. And compared to the dirt solutions I’ve subsequently swum in – crystal clear.

A seriously enjoyable swim. And the race numbers were top notch. As was the bacon and egg roll afterwards!

5km. Finally.

After finishing my first Palm to Whale Big Swim in 2010 I set my sights on a 5km swim. I thought there was only one in NSW that didn’t clash with Can Too commitments: Coogee to Bondi.

A bit of a bitch about Coogee to Bondi

In 2010 I suffered a debilitating bout of sea sickness in the Malabar swim, didn’t train enough and so deferred to 2011. When the race was a complete schmozzle and reset to a swim inside Coogee. After an hour and a half standing in the freezing rain whilst they reset with no announcements I gave up and headed for home.

Coogee Closed For Business 2011

In 2012 I came down with an awful flu / cold thing that bound me to bed for a fortnight, coinciding with my bronze part B assessment to become a surf lifesaver resulting in a failed boards component and meant I couldn’t swim.

Moving the final buoy mid race is a no-no

2013 they didn’t run the race because they were setting up a SUP board business. God knows what will happen in 2014.

It should be noted that most of the ocean swims are run by surf clubs and they do it very well. Some are run as private profit making exercises (like the Cole Classic) and are quite expensive but are still very well run. It is incredibly hard to run a journey swim from one beach to another, when that swim crosses the territory of two councils and 5 surf clubs. However, Mermaid Jo, who coaches at icebergs has never impressed as a race organiser. Despite a $75 race fee there was an abject failure to communicate in 2011 and the final buoy was moved without warning after the winners had passed it in 2012 - both poor efforts. So it’s unsurprising that a great, epic, journey swim has yet again fallen into disrepair.

It would be great to see the surf clubs take this on.

So following on from the previous abject failures to swim 5km I did what the Pet Shop Boys have been telling us to do for years: Go West!

Western Australian Adventures

My gorgeous gal pal, the ever lovely Courtney calls Perth home. We met in The Hague and have hung out (both east side and west side) a few times since returning to Oz in 2008. Great incentive to head west to tackle my first 5km.

The Davey Real Estate Sunset Coast Swim 2014 is run by Scarboro SLSC on Scarborough beach (confused yet?). It’s a 2km loop followed by a 3km loop. They also run a 2km and a 1km swim.

There is also a 1:40 time limit. Always a great idea to read the fine print. Coogee to Bondi has a 2 hour time limit to clear McKenzie’s point so it’s about 2:20 in total. These Western Australians are fast. I am not. This is a problem. The winner did this swim in 50:26. That’s 10 minutes per kilometre. I am stoked to hold 20 minutes per kilometre.

Heading to the race briefing I run into my great Can Too swim mate, Alice Boxhall, who lives in San Francisco but happened to be in Perth for a conference and encouraged her friend to try the 1km. Such a boost. Beautiful, random moment.

Random Run Ins - Awesome

Scarborough is an unbelievably beautiful and long beach. Always lovely to have something nice to look at.

Deep water start, we tread water between two buoys and we’re off.

I’m dead last from go to whoa. I’m in it to complete not to compete.

The 2km lap is easily done, sighting is a little tricky in this super flat water but it’s so clear and blue I can hardly complain. Onto the 3km lap. With 15 minutes and 1km to go the water safety starts harassing me. They tell me I have 10 minutes to go. I’m timing myself and know I have 15. I give back as good as I get and I’m told “let’s just get you to the finish line”. I’ll show them. The kick kicks in and I cross the line in 1:39:54. 6 seconds until being disqualified. Waste not, want not.

An otherwise great swim marred by a very different attitude to ocean swimming than what I’m used to - encouraging participation. However, absolutely stoked to finish and finally complete a long standing goal.

Did I say stoked? I meant STOKED!!!

Catch up with Courtney in yet another great café (Perth hipster culture is absolutely brilliant). Somehow we manage to work out a plan that involves a crazy roadtrip, including catch ups / meetings / love matches with the gorgeous Kristy – Courtney getting back into town in time for a meeting and my seeing even more of the gorgeous Western Australia – including idyllic rural backwaters.

So we hit the road. Which is partly melting in 40 degree heat. Thank goodness some like it hot, including me.

And all three of us love a good devonshire tea. Even in the road melting heat.

5 hours and 420km later we hit Albany. Which it turns out is a hive of cool hipster bars, great restaurants and an unbelievable waterfront arts centre. We all have hot chocolate at the seriously cool bar because we’re super cool and all. It’s also housed within our hostel.

Next morning I realise I may have outgrown hostel accommodation as an epic 3am spooning sesh in the bed below impairs my pre race sleep plan. Kind of hilarious though. We head to Middleton beach on Albany Harbour about10 mins out of town.

This is my kind of swim. Casual, relaxed, and with a 2 hour cut off.

Lucky Number 125

It’s a 1.25km loop, so they run a 1.25m, a 2.5km and a 5km swim all starting at the same time. With our red, yellow and green swim caps we look like a traffic light convention at the deep water start.

Again, this is all about pacing. Feeling surprisingly fresh after yesterday I don’t go quite as slow at the start. (I probably did my first km at warm up pace yesterday). By the end I’ve been lapped by just about everyone doing the 5km swim and have my own personal board paddler who tells me “I’m awesome” and when I give her a massive hug at the end tells me she’s awed (especially by the consistency of my pace).

Better than a win any day! Finishing dead last is so much better than not finishing.

Simply the most stunning location. Photos below are from the gorgeous coastal walk back into town.

Love WA and its inhabitants.

A note on training:

5km is not to be attempted lightly, especially with crazy fast time limits. I did a mix of pool and ocean swim training for this. Including a couple of 4km swims on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve getting up to 20km a week in total. I find a mix of pool technique and interval sessions combined with long ocean swims works for me. 

Katie Can Too Run. Sort of. At least until being banned.

Today was race day.

My predicted pace was between 7:30-7:45/ km.

I ran 14km in 1:42:12. That's 7:18 / km.

My previous best effort was 1:59:43 or 8:33 /km.

And the last time I ran 14km was 3 weeks ago.

That's the power of orange. (Described in detail below).

In an atmosphere of unconditional and unlimited support how could one not improve beyond your wildest dreams?

My inspiring sister Annabel ran the ultra half marathon (23km on the Saturday) in 1:50:17. Her predicted time was 1:55. She finished together with her pace buddy Laura, and the two of them collectively achieved what they might have individually struggled to replicate.

There was one point where I had to walk because I was in so much pain (bloody knees). I only walked 10m because I was terrified I couldn't start running again. And in that 10 m I thought of every one of you. Talk about a jump start. I flew out of the walk.

Thank you. I am so grateful, for all the support (financial and otherwise). This is a cause I passionately believe in: curing cancer through the funding of young (7 years post doctorate)  researchers with burning passion and fresh ideas. So thank you for believing in me.

Thank you to those who ran with me, cheered me and called me crazy. 'Cause it really was.

Especial thanks to the professionals who kept me on the road, Paula Luke, Tanya Bowden and Karen Rook. 

With thanks,

Katie

Fast Facts and Figures

• Funds raised this program: $2060 (Thank YOU!!)
• Total Funds raised by me: $8806 for Cure Cancer Australia since November 2009
• Can Too has raised $11,000,000 since 2005 and funded 22 researchers in 2013
• I have run over 150km in training. This is equivalent of Wollongong to Gosford.
• I’ve used 256 metres of strapping tape since the program began.

Dirty secrets:

• I still don't enjoy running. I spent almost the entire race pushing through knee pain. Towards the end I couldn't get my pace up and finally relied on my hatred of running. It worked.
• I do, however, enjoy running up hills. There's no impact on my knees. There was one final hill before the finish and I was so relieved to see it. Weird, I know.
• I had my GPS watch set to swim mode at the start. Wishful thinking perhaps? I was "swimming" 29 second 50m laps. It's my fastest ever swim. But a very confusing run pace.

The power of orange

Our cheer squad lined the start and finish, including my lovely sister. One of our team couldn't run but had a loudhailer at the top of the first decline / final incline. It was a loop course so everyone who ran past wearing orange (even if not a Can Tooer) on the way back down got a hero's ovation. Each geographical Can Too pod  (we were 14km North) has a team captain and mentor. Our mentor encouraged me to run our own race and got an injured team member across the line. Our team captain's husband stationed himself at the 2km point and cheered us all. Our team captain and coach got the fast runners over the line then came back to ferry us slower souls across the line. Again and again. They ran about 20km that day. Annie, who founded Can Too, paced her inspiring and injured husband (fellow fish out of water, Simon) over the line and then ran back to help everyone up that final hill. Then she did the next thing for the half / ultra marathon the next day. She probably ran 60km over the course of the weekend. And everywhere you looked there were examples of a community of (Orange) people encouraging each other to achieve beyond their imagination. 

Race Report

I decided to run my own race, with an eye on my pace but without being a slave to the pace. It was a genuinely beautiful run to the paradise picnic spot through beautiful countryside complete with cantering horses. Despite 12 weeks of strength work, weekly physio and clinical pilates sessions the right knee protested every step. I broke my promise not to run through the pain. But if you stuck a camera in my face I forget the pain. The middle 6km of the race was a gentle hill. I loved the incline up to the turn around and hated the decline - but it did help me to negatively split. 

The winner (a Kenyan who looked like he wasn't trying despite running faster than my sprint pace) passed me at the 3km mark. I made a point of cheering everyone. I was determined to enjoy the race as much as possible and encouraging others is my favourite part of Can Too. 

At the final kilometre the beautiful, generous, inspiring and supportive Abbie (Team Captain) and Simone (coach) ran back to collect me. Somehow I picked up the pace beyond what I thought possible, only to slow right at the end so I could High 5 absolutely everyone. I waved, jumped, smiled, thumbs upped and thoroughly enjoyed the end. It had been a long time in the making.

After icing my knees I felt like I could have kept running. There's still a lot of work to do there. I then jumped into Apollo Bay (17 degrees) for a recovery walk in the water and swim. 

Everyone thought I was mad, but after a second swim the following day I was pain free. Best recovery ever.

What's next?

I've signed up to do the half marathon in September. However, 20 years after chipping my patella stuffing up my knees, I'm finally getting a surgeon's opinion. I'm also having my running style assessed to try and remove any technique based problems.

So the half will have to wait and see the outcome of all these efforts. [Post script - my knees track so badly I will inevitably required a full bilateral reconstruction. If I run it'll be necessary in 5 years, if not I have 20 years. I have been banned from running.]

In the meantime, my group and I are going to keep doing short runs together. They are just such an incredible bunch of people with whom I really want to stay in touch. Plus I get to ramp up my swimming efforts again (YAY!!!) ahead of a planned very long distance swim. 

Can Too Mentor

I'm super excited to be a Can Too mentor for the Thursday East 7pm C&P Pod. I'm the mentor for the "Dory" group, who just keep swimming!