2009 is Dunzo!

Wow, I can't believe that 2009 is really on its way out right now, and as it's slipping away, I want to make a short post about what a great year it was for me and how much I appreciate all that everyone did to help me reach some amazing goals this year. I wish I had something pithy and insightful to say about the value of hard work, smart work, and how important it is to have such a supportive circle of friends, family, and teammates, how I couldn't have done much of anything without everyone who contributed-- whether it was financially, by swimming with me, by listening to my stories, or by just being there-- but I'm pretty much wiped out from the last few weeks with work being insane and trying to tie up all the loose ends before the end of the year. (How's that for going out with a whimper?)

At any rate, I do have some interesting things to tell about goings on that I hope are going to come together in 2010, so stay tuned. In answer to the question that I get asked so frequently, "What's next" I can now say with some degree of certainty that there will in fact be more swimming adventures ahead and I definitely will not be resting on my laurels. There's still way too much water out there in that big, beautiful planet of ours for me to even think I'm done yet.

As per last year, my "resolution" is to post more frequently and keep those handful of you who do still follow this blog better updated as to what's going on. For today though, I'm going to sign off and say Happy New Year to all and thanks for the memories, 2009. You brought some incredible highs, and a few lows, but all in all, you're a year whose memory I will cherish for a lifetime. Here's to 2010 and the many more friends who I hope to make along the way to the NEXT big adventure!

Trizophrenia Strikes!

So, I just came across this interview Jef Mallett-- the artist behind the comic strip Frazz who I interviewed for NEM News and SWIMMER magazine recently-- gave to another blogger, Steve in a Speedo, about his new book, Trizophrenia: Inside the Minds of a Triathlete. And lookie there, I get a mention in question 4. Now that's cool. Jef, you are a star, plain and simple. I can only dream of doing an Ironman someday. And I think the Straits of Mackinac was an awesome swim. I would love to do it sometime!

Grab a copy of Jef's new book from Amazon. Would make the perfect X-mas gift for the favorite triathlete on your shopping list. Looking forward to reading it myself!

Florence Chadwick on WML

So yesterday, I came across an article that said that Jack LaLanne, the "father of fitness" had said he would swim the Catalina Channel on his 95th birthday. Incredible! The article was a few months old, and his birthday was in September. I hadn't heard anything about it, so I did a little more digging and discovered that LaLanne was a big swimmer, having swum Alcatraz in handcuffs among several other long distance swimming stunts. (And here, all this time I thought he was just into pumping iron!)I guess we'll just have to see whether he does swim Catalina at some point in the future-- he would crush the record for the oldest swimmer by a long shot!

Then this morning I moseyed on over to the Catalina Channel Swimming Federation's Facebook page and saw that they had posted a video of Florence Chadwick's 1955 appearance on What's My Line. Pretty incredible stuff. Not only did her shoulders give her away, but the English Channel record (England to France) she had set two weeks before the taping was the exact same time I did in the Channel this summer-- 13:55 (she mentions it at 5:07 in the video). Pretty incredible, huh? To think, I did the same time as a former world record holder-- granted that was more than 50 years ago when the training, navigation, and nutrition aspects were not nearly as well established, but still, it's a neat thought. Her record is listed on the CSA website in the 1875-1959 records listing here.