Doug McConnell. Marcia Cleveland. Abby Bergman.
Those people, in that order, are the three humans who have made an immeasurable impact on my open water swimming career. They all showed up right when I needed them and have been the support system that I didn’t know I didn’t have.
ABBY BERGMAN:
I joined Chicago Masters this Spring as a means of adding some long course pool work outs to my training. My first day, I learned that there was another girl who was an avid open water swimmer that I should meet. The next day, I met Abby. She’s about half my size and double my enthusiasm. I lovingly refer to her as my little psycho.
My first time outside this Spring, Abby invited me to swim with her at Promontory Point. I had heard it was a great place to swim open water, so I was excited to meet her out there. Let me be completely clear, my experience that day was AWFUL. The water was wicked cold and super bumpy. It was sloshy, and I felt like I was caught in a washing machine. I was negative self talking as I tried to fight the surf and the wind the WHOLE WAY. Abby totally kicked my ass on every loop and I was annoyed that she was out swimming me. Of course, I never admitted this to Abby and she’s probably reading this blog right now wondering why I didn’t tell her how miserable I was and how much I was struggling that day. But I don’t think I would be as strong as I am right now if I didn’t have to pull myself up and get my mind right after that swim.
Abby is super positive and encouraging. She is welcoming, inclusive and kind. After my awful experience that day, I felt so much shame that I was so incredibly judgemental of myself. Abby was so positive and so proud of me and she hardly even knew me. She didn’t know it, but she was the one who really pulled me out of the darkness. After that swim, I did my best to swim with Abby as much as possible.
Within a week or so, I was noticing that Abby and I were swimming at exactly the same pace. I started making a habit of keeping her on my left side (because I primarily breathe to the left, so this way I could see her) and we would swim tandem for hours and hours. We did three hour and four hour swims together. I made sure Abby had sunscreen and feeds and she brought the positive attitude and encouraging words. We soon realized that we were quite the little team. Abby had to leave for California to swim Anacapa on July 4 and I’ve been missing her so much! But we text every day and support each other from afar. Abby is swimming Lake Tahoe a few days after me so I’ll get to see her very soon! Plus, she’s returning to Chicago in August and we can continue to train together for more swims.
All of the training swims I had with Abby this summer have completely prepared me to swim Lake Tahoe. I feel confident in my training and that is, in large part, because of Abby. Thank you for being my friend, my training buddy and an overall outstanding person. I’m so excited to keep her on my port side for life.
MARCIA CLEVELAND:
A quick search on Google will tell you a lot about Marcia. She is an extremely accomplished Marathon Swimmer. One thing that Google won’t tell you, is what an incredible soul she has. I first met Marcia after an A Long Swim event. Doug McConnell introduced us and told her I was planning to swim Lake Tahoe. Come to find out, Marcia had just finished her Tahoe crossing! So there we were, in the parking lot of Lake Zurich and Marcia pulled out a towel that was also a map of Lake Tahoe.
Marcia was in a hurry to head out for another engagement, but she took the time to give me as much information as she could in the short amount of time she had to give. That’s just how she is; Marcia will give you everything she has, every time. Fast forward to this Spring, I was getting more and more training under my belt and Abby was leaving for California so I reached out to Marcia to see if she was interested in training together. She invited me to Tower Rd Beach in Winnetka and Doug was going too so I hopped in the car and went out to meet her.
Marcia told us to meet at 7am, but by the time I got there she was already in the water swimming loops. After finishing around the buoy Marcia came bouncing out of the water welcoming me to swim. Come to find out, she had gotten in the water at 6am and was already an hour in to her training. Marcia works hard and she doesn’t cheat herself. She is the same with those she trains with too.
“It doesn’t count unless you touch the pier.”
Marcia has been such an inspiration for me. I look up to her and respect her journey and experience. Thank you, Marcia, for your unwavering support and guidance. You truly made me feel like I belong out here and that’s something that I’ve always struggled with. For a long time I searched for where I belong and for Marcia to open her arms to me and make me feel at home is something that I will never forget.
Doug McConnell:
When I first moved back to Illinois, I picked up coaching Masters swimming at Naperville North HS for the Park District. I had just started swimming again and was interested in doing some open water races. One of the kind gentlemen who I was coaching suggested I look up the “ALS Swims” as one was coming up pretty soon. I went online and Googled the race and paid the entry fee. I noticed that the swim raised money for ALS Research and the founder was an accomplished open water swimmer.
I posted on Facebook to my friends a link to the swim event and Doug McConnell commented. I was really surprised that he commented and we ended up chatting for a little while. Come to find out, Doug and I have the exact same cervical spinal implant made by the same company. It was fate and we scheduled a time to meet in person.
Since the moment I met Doug, I was impressed. He is an outstanding human and an even better mentor and friend. Doug suggested I sign up for the Amsterdam City Swim and off I went to Holland with Mom, Betzi, for a week and a swim I’ll never forget! After that, I wanted to do more. I contacted Doug and asked about Lake Tahoe. We hatched a plan and A Long Swim agreed to sponsor me and I agreed to raise money for ALS Research. It was a win, win.
December 2017 – July 2018 was a really rough time for me. I struggled personally and professionally. I needed help and guidance so I called Doug (and his wife Susan). Doug was right there with support and advice. He would drive well out of his way to meet me for lunch and help me through some hard decisions. I was supposed to swim Lake Tahoe in 2018 but had to pull out because I threw out my back, which set Doug back a good chunk of change because of all the money that A Long Swim fronted for my swim. Doug was more concerned about me and my well being than he was about the money.
That’s just Doug. He will bend over backwards for anyone, even if the expense falls on him. I’ll probably never be able to thank him or repay him for all that he has done for me. The best thing I can do now is swim. I’m going to keep swimming for A Long Swim. I’m going to keep raising money for A Long Swim because I believe in Doug and I believe in all the good work that A Long Swim is doing.
They always say that people come in and out of your life for a reason. Sometimes for a shot time and sometimes for a lifetime, but it’s in what you take away from each relationship, rather, what you learn from each relationship that matters. I’m an incredibly lucky person to have Abby, Marcia and Doug.
Unicorns and Jellyfish 