Here it goes:

I can’t believe that I am within a few short days of starting my journey from South Lake Tahoe to Incline Village. My training has flown by, and I have to admit, I’m a little sad that I have to start tapering now…

Today is Saturday, July 27, 2019. This morning was my final “long” swim before my marathon. I set out with Marcia Cleveland, a marathon swimming legend, and Doug McConnell , who is my Sponsor, friend and mentor. The three of us hopped in Lake Michigan at Tower Rd Beach in Winnetka, Illinois . Originally, I set out to swim 5 hours with Marcia, but I flubbed up what time we were meeting and ended up getting there 45 min late. I did 4 hours and 15 mins today and had a pretty tough pool workout with Marcia yesterday morning, so by the final half hour today, I was feeling strong and in my own groove.

I felt pretty solid, minus a twinge on the right side of my neck that was going down into my right shoulder. Pain in unavoidable in endurance swimming. You learn to be comfortable in a constant state of “ache”. I only get alarmed when the ache turns into sharp pain. Because of my surgeries and implants in my neck, I loose feeling in my arms and legs occasionally and it usually starts right after a very sharp electric shock feeling in my neck or spine. The shocks will travel down my arm or my leg and are followed by the sensation that my arm or leg has fallen asleep and it takes a while for me to regain motor function in my hands and feet. Usually, I can just swim through it, very rarely will it make me completely stop. All in all, it was a great swim today and I feel really good about heading out to Lake Tahoe on Monday.

Tomorrow will be an adventure in packing. I have to figure out how to pack all of my dry feeds, my magic bullet blender, my sunblock/vaseline, parka, hoodies, suits, caps, goggles…it’s a pretty long packing list. I’m grateful that I don’t need any ‘regular’ clothes (not that I have many) – Lululemon will be as fancy as I get!

Let’s be honest, all I really need is my suit, cap and goggles and I’ll be just fine 🙂