April 30 2011 - 2Swim4Life

Having made so many friends on facebook and following different blogs, it was bought to my attention that 2Swim4Life were doing a 24 hour challenge.  Swim a mile on the hour, every hour, for 24 hours.  And whats more, the charity was my favorite - Help 4 Heroes.  So with the channel swim only 12 weeks away now, it was perfect timing for us both to have a bash at this challenge.  For the past two weeks, I have done nothing else but prepare for this.  It's been on my mind 24/7, how I would approach it, how could I ensure I completed it.  I decided to ask my sponsors to sponsor by the mile.  To give me a motivational song, to give me a reason for choosing that song and why I should swim that mile for them.  I then downloaded them on a portable player to motivate me between my rest periods and downloaded them on my Splashgear MP3 player to listen to while I was swimming.  

Here we are at the start.  All bright and cheerful.  The water was freezing.  Although the sun was shining, there was not enough time to warm the inner body between miles.  Brian Hammond my swimming coach from the past came to offer his support.  It was lovely to see him, but when I climbed out after Mile 1 and he said 26mins 10secs, we both laughed. Sorry Lorraine, old habits die hard, I couldn't help myself, just had to time you.  Well, it was a bit unfair, a) coz I didnt know he was timing me, b) I was taking it real slow and c) I was in a very slow lane with breaststrokers and allsorts of traffic going on.  Mile 2, he said "that was a minute faster", so now it was my time to laugh, "Yes Brian, old habits do die hard - just look what you have done to me, coz I knew there was a stop watch on me, I went faster".  Well enough of that joking about, I still had 22 miles to go.  Brian put his stop watch away and I settled into 24 - 26 minute miles according to the lane traffic.  

I remember saying to Karen mid afternoon that I was so bored.  How are we gonna keep this up.  It's not that I didn't want to do it, it was just that I was bored.  Thank god I had my songs on my Splashgear MP3 player.  I concentrated on the person sponsoring me, I thought of them, I listened to their song and only thought of that mile, that reason, not how many were left.  Karen had a real mental block at Mile 7 and myself, our two boys and our swimming friend Nick had to work hard in the time available to get her going again.  I'm pleased to say she went on to complete 18 miles.

As the cold night settled in, I settled into a pattern with my husband and son Gary.  They were fantastic.  I had already told them before hand, as long as my health is not in danger, then no matter what excuses I am throwing at you, just keep me going - and they did.  Gary said to me at each mile "What do you want for the next rest period mum"?  I would answer, tea, minstrels, painkiller, hot water bottle or hot chocolate, noodles, dextrose, or red bull, sweets, cereal.   I would come back to a dry bed each time coz I had enough towels, blankets and sleeping bags to keep an army going.  My gloves and socks were hot coz they were wrapped round the hot water bottle.  My bed was made, I would climb in semi-wet, eat, drink then quickly rest till he gave me the 5 minute warning.  And so it started again, he bundled up all the wet stuff and got all my dry stuff for the next break.  Hubby was length counter or they would swap duties.  I cried a lot in the early hours and they both just laughed and on one occasion threw marshmallows at me and told me "they were sooooo tired".  They kept my spirits up by making me laugh when I was crying.

The comraderie at the event was brilliant.  I wish I had time to meet more people, but most important I managed to track down Mark Robson and Colin Hill, my facebook friends that I had never met before.  That was lovely but during the night, no way could I find them.  We all had to concentrate on utilising our rest periods the best way possible to ensure our own success.  My tent neighbours Mark and Lucinda were, by now, people that I just walked past between miles.  The occasional nod had replaced the 'well done' chatter and smile of early afternoon.  As the challenge took its toll, we just looked at one another and I knew she was wishing me luck and she knew I was saying well done.

I took to the big tent twice in the early hours for extra warmth but I needed to lay down more than I needed the warmth, so soon went back to my tent.

Miles 19, 20, 21 and 22 were the hardest.  I couldn't be asked to do them.  I just went on auto-pilot, sang and pretended to be warm.  As I was doing mile 21 I remember thinking by the time I do 22 the sun will be up - but it wasn't so I cried again.  Daft!  I remember trying to get my wetsuit off in the little time I had coz I thought I needed to go to the loo properly - but I couldn't get my wetsuit off coz my knuckles were froze, so I cried again. Daft!  Then when I got the suit off, I couldn't go - so I cried again. Daft!  It was all getting too much by now but my buddies continued to laugh, dance stupid dances to my songs which we played quietly by my tent and continued to lift my spirits. They were my saviour. When I finished another mile, the first thing they said, was "smile Bettsy" or "smile Mum", but this is what I gave them.  And we all laughed again.

Mile 24 was for my late dad.  I listened to Tina Turner 'Simply the Best' before I got in and throughout the last mile. He loved that song.  We once went to see Tina Turner together.  I once marched round the pool when I got my European Masters 1500metres record to 'Simply the Best'.  And my dad was 'Simply the Best'.  And now, once again, because of a Splashgear MP3 player, I was able to listen to our favourite song whilst swimming the final mile for my Dad.  I can honestly say that the music definately motivated me through this challenge. It helped me to focus on something completely different and it makes long distance swimming so much more fun.  I just concentrated on the music and the distance took care of itself.  


I was choking as I was swimming the last two lengths.  And then it was over.  I was smiling, delighted, no more tears, the sun was shining and I had done it.  Finished on 29min miles and suddenly I wasn't cold anymore - how weird was that.  I have raised over £1,600.00 so far.  

'Simply the Best'