Tis the season for recapping the main happenings of 2013. It was an incredible year full of triumph and tribulations. As I remember back on all of my progress in 2013, I am hopeful for an even better 2014. Enjoy!
January: After taking four months off of full-time training to recover from injury sustained in the 2012 BCT Gdynia Marathon, I started training under the direction of Harley Connolly. It took almost five months for my body to settle into Harley’s training program, though once I did I noticed huge gains in my speed and endurance.
April: Anne Cleveland and I co-coached the first ever Manhattan Beach Channel Swimming Clinic. Seven aspiring channel swimmers from around the country spent four days learning the ins-and-outs of channel swimming. By the end of the fourth day our timid swimmers had transformed into confident and knowledgeable marathon swimmers ready for the task at hand. They went on to do the Swim Around Key West, Catalina Channel, Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, END-Wet, and Long Island Sound (among others!)
May: This spring I became a brand ambassador for Malibu C, a manufacturer of wellness solutions for the hair, scalp, and skin. In May, I flew to my home state of Indiana to receive a Malibu MakeOver© at Malibu C’s Manufacturing and Educational facility in Indianapolis. The MakeOver was filmed and documented and has even appeared in trade magazines internationally. Malibu C even set up a fundraising portal for me where 50% of all sales will go toward my training and racing fees.
June: My first race of the season was the Seal Beach 5k. It was a great opportunity to get my feet wet in racing again on a navigationally challenging “sprint” distance course. I came in third, only a few seconds behind first and second place, both promising distance swimmers at UCLA.
July-August: My biggest months of racing yet! A week and a half before leaving for the Canadian Grand Prix races, I packed my kayak to the top of my car and headed to Santa Barbara for the Semana Nautica 10k. It was a cold and rough way to test my racing chops and to break in my new racing suit from FINIS, and I definitely passed the test, placing first overall. Twelve days later I found myself swimming to finish the 10K Lac St-Jean World Cup, a last minute addition to the racing calendar that sent me off in a frantic rush to pull paperwork together only to receive confirmation of entry a mere hour before the race. Then, two days later I took on the 32km Traversee du Lac St. Jean, a race I’ve been dreaming about for almost a decade, which I managed to place 4th in despite some early mistakes that put me way behind at the start. A week and one 2km sprint race later, I had to pull out of the 34km Traversee Internationale du Lac Memphremagog shortly after the halfway mark due to a sharp pain in my elbow due to overuse. It was a crazy-ambitious and grueling month and a half, and while it didn’t 100% go as planned, I feel good about my first attempt of back-to-back-to-back racing!
September: FUEL WebMedia came on board as my web host. Allan has actually been my web designer for years, and I look forward to seeing what he can do now that he is on his own!
October: Due to the government shut down, one of my favorite amateur races of all time, Slam the Dam, was cancelled! Now I’m even hungrier to return to Lake Mead, un-injured, to see what I can do!
November: As a perfect way to wrap up a great 2013, I entered myself in the 2014 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. MIMS, as it is called, was my very first marathon swim back in 2004. At 18 years old with no marathon swimming mentor and absolutely no idea what I was getting into, I managed to not only finish the race, but place fourth. Since that day I have often wondered how things would be different if I entered the race with the knowledge and racing pedigree that I have now, so I gave in to that nagging voice and sent in my application. I can’t think of a better way to wrap up my FIRST decade in marathon swimming. Look for me swimming around NYC this coming June!
