A swim to the other side

It is a fair comment to say I've been a late developer in the swimming department, only learning properly when I was, ooh, I'd say about 34.  Before that, all I could do was a kind of panicky doggy paddle before starting to sink after about 2 metres.

This all changed when I met Heidi Chadwick around 2009, who encouraged me to join the Achilles Triathlon team.  As Heidi had completed Ironmans I was confident that she knew a thing or two about swimming, and would be in capable hands learning with her, so I agreed to join their weekly swim workout sessions.

I was basically starting from scratch.  Up to that point, I had considered myself a reasonably well co-ordinated person, but this all seemed to change whenever I slipped into a pair of speedos.   So much to think about all at the same time - kicking the leg, making a stroke with the arms, relaxing the hands, going in the right direction, keeping your composure, as well as the trifling matter of actually remembering to breathe.

Being part of the Achilles triathlon team though provided me with an endless source of inspiration.  If a blind person could get into a swimming pool, or someone with cerebral palsy, or someone left wheel-chair bound by polio, then there was no reason why I could not.

Slowly but surely it did start to come together, and I completed my first sprint triathlon in Flushing Meadows, Queens, in summer 2009.  The 400 metre swim took me about 27 minutes, but I was ecstatic just to get out of the pool.  Last year I completed the swim in the same event in 20 minutes, and I'm hoping to shave a few more minutes off my time when I do it again in a couple of weeks time.

Last week-end, Heidi invited me and mutual friend Nina up to her beautiful lakeside cottage up in the hills of New Jersey.   I tried on a wetsuit for the first time and was amazed by how buoyant they make you.  A highlight of the day was swimming to the other side of the lake and back, with Nina, Heidi, and her husband Don in a kayak for support.  It made me realise how I far my swimming has come in the space of a couple of years - I'm swimming distances I never thought possible - and started me dreaming of completing the NYC Olympic distance triathlon one day, which involves a 1500 metre swim in the Hudson (just don't drink the water!).

Delgado and Phelps

I consider overcoming my fear of swimming a real personal achievement.  It has been an empowering experience, giving me a confidence that likely spills over into other areas of my life; if I can learn to swim, anything else is possible; by tackling obstacles head on, the sky is the limit.   But as well as taking great satisfaction in my swimming accomplishments, more than any thing I feel gratitude that I've been touched by organisations like Achilles, and people like Heidi, who have helped me achieve what I once thought was never possible.