If your biggest fear is the unknown........then just GO FOR IT! (My Big Swim)

When I first said I'd do The Big Swim with just one week to prepare,  I knew it would be a challenge!  The last time I did a big ocean swim was when I was 16 years old (a loooong time ago).

I realise that I may have come across as 'foolish' to some of my readers for wanting to do it with such little preparation.   However, I really want to reiterate here that I do have a very healthy respect for the Ocean and to those amazing lifeguards who work so hard to keep up all safe, and I honestly would not have put myself in a situation that I did not believe deep down I could do!!

With that in mind, I was still nervous and a little scared - but's what's a challenge if you aren't a little nervous or scared right???  For me it was all about pushing my boundaries and I really am a great believer that boundaries are there to be pushed and that box is there to be thought outside of (if you know what I mean).  There is also nothing wrong with trying........ (You can read my previous post about preparing (or not) for the Big Swim here)

As a fairly strong swimmer I just thought my biggest problem would be exhaustion (from lack of training), but I wasnt worried about that - with mind over matter I knew I could push through it.   I tried really hard not too think about anything else (sharks, big waves, rips etc).  With just one week to get ready there was very little I could actually do except just get in and swim!

No exactly the usual picture postcard Palm Beach!

I woke up on Sunday morning and felt like a million butterflies had been let loose in my tummy!  I didn't even have to look out the window to see the rain as I could hear it pummelling down heavily on the roof!!  It was the worst kind of day you could possible want for an Ocean Swim and suddenly my nerves because very very real!!!

"What do you think?" I whispered to Mr D as we lay in bed listening to the down pour!  "You're mad!" he whispered back.  (Don't know why we were whispering but it seemed like the thing to do).  "I'll just check twitter and see what everyone else it doing" I said, pulling out my phone.  (Get me....... 6 months ago twitter was as foreign as trekking in the Amazon jungle to me).  Some people on twitter were pulling out due to the weather and some were still keen to try!  Well that was no help to me!!  Especially as neither Mr D or I were very good at reading into the effects of wind direction and swell size.  I just wanted someone to tell me what to do!  

No such luck, so I decided that I couldn't not try!  I had to at least give it a go.  So we piled the kids into the car and headed to Palm Beach.

This "Summer Bay" setting didn't look very 'summery' that's for sure!

Mr D dropped me at the Beach while he went off to find somewhere to park.  The rain was really starting to come down and there were lots of people just standing, staring at the surf.  I felt a bit like a little lost kitten, just wondering around not knowing what I was doing.  Everyone else seemed to be there with someone or in a team of some sort.  I wondered what was going through their minds?????  Were they nervous or excited??  I realised then that my biggest fear was actually the unknown.

A very soggy beach!

I stood and stared at the waves for a few minutes like everyone else and tried to appear like I knew what I was looking at.  They just looked BIG to me!  How was I going to get passed that break to even begin the swim??  I decided that I needed to make a friend - someone who looked like they knew about waves.  I wondered over to a guy that was pointing out towards the waves.  "He'll do" I thought.  "Hi, I said "Are you swimming today?".  "Yes and it doesn't look like fun out there", he replied.  (Gulp!!) "Me too" I said, "it's my first time - any tips?"  "Swim wide and hope for the best" he said!  Mmmmmmm maybe at this point I should just enjoy my ignorance - like they say, it is supposed to be bliss!

On this map 2.5km looks a loooooog way!

I still had half an hour before my start so I went over to register and find out what to do.  

I stood for ages watching some other swimming in the sea trying to work out which way the current was pulling them

Registered and ready - no turning back now

I found Mr D and he looked as pale faced as me.  "Don't worry" I said, "I'll be ok.  The worst that will happen is that I'll get pulled out by one of those lifeguards on the jet ski's"  (I felt a little touched that he was that worried about me).  "It's not you!" he said "the kids are doing my head in already!!"  Ha! well, if I couldn't find it before, there was my motivation!!!   An hour or so of swimming with just my own thoughts or an hour or so in the rain with three whingy children??

Guess what I chose??

"Good luck mummy" I heard the kids shout as I made my way to the start line.  This was it - I was getting in!

Lots of lifeguards bobbing around on their boards and ski's ready to pull swimmers out the surf (and it doesn't look anywhere near as scary as it actually was)

As I nervously waited at the start for the gun to go off, I recognised some of the Can Too swimmers in their unmissable black and orange swim suits.  They were all pretty nervous too and discussing tactics on how to get out past the break.  I kind of gate-crashed their conversation for a bit of support and they were all so incredibly nice to me that I suddenly didn't feel so alone.  What a lovely bunch of girls and if any of you are reading this - thank you so much for your support.

You can do it, you can do it, you can do, you can do it, you can do it" was playing over and over in  my head until the start siren shattered my thoughts and everyone rushed towards the sea.

I managed to get out over the break without too many problems, although it was pretty exhausting as I had to really hold my breath to get under every huge wave that crashed over me.  I could feel their power rush over my body and try to pull me backwards with it.  I just kept going until I suddenly realised I was no longer fighting the current!  WOOO HOOO I made it!!  I was so happy, I could feel the grin spread across my face.  The power of positive thinking.

The rest of the swim was almost exhilarating.  The water was a beautiful temperature and as I relaxed I really started to enjoy it.  I freaked out a couple of times as I swam through a shoal of little fish and at one moment my hand grabbed hold of a jelly fish and I almost lept out the sea in fright (and then chuckled to myself when I thought how funny I must have looked).   I had to look up quite a few times just to check I was going in the right direction, but otherwise I sang a few songs (fortunately no one could hear me), did my meal plans for the week and made a list of things I still had to get for Master J's first day of school later that week!!  Before I knew it I could see the last buoy and I knew I was nearly there.

I stopped and paddle for a bit, just to see what the waves coming onto shore looked like, but I couldn't really tell from where I was.  Everyone else around me just kept swimming towards shore, so I put my head down and kept going.  Then suddenly, out of nowhere my whole body felt like it was being tossed around in a washing machine.  I didn't even have a chance to gather my thoughts or work out where I was before I was smashed again and rolled in every direction.  Gasping for air, I popped up only to be faced head on with another huge wall of blue with angry white horses galloping at speed along the top! SMASH and under I went again.  My goggles were ripped off my head and as I came up there was a quiet lull. I looked around frantically and felt myself starting to panic.  My mind was a total blank and I could feel myself freezing in fear.  I just couldn't think of what to do - how was I going to get to shore.  I still was still bobbing up and down, panicking, when I got hit again by another huge wave.  This time I  could feel myself being bashed into someone else (who was also caught in the wash).  I was still no closer to shore so I put my arm in the air and called a lifeguard over.  I've never had to do that before and it really made me realise just how easily you can get into trouble in the ocean.

The rubber duck was with me in a couple of seconds and a lifeguard had a hold of my arm.  "You ok?" he yelled!  "Yes!  I'm sorry!" was all I could mutter.  "Don't worry," he said, "it's pretty bad out here, you're not the only one!"

Before he pulled me into the boat, he told me that I was only about 15-20m from shore and if he put me in the boat I would be disqualified!!  After all that I was NOT going to let that happen, so I gave the waves one more chance and they literally spat me on to the beach!

I DID IT!!!!

A man with one leg finished -  now that is INSPIRATION

If fear of the unknown is what you're really afraid of  - then just GO FOR IT!  You'll be surprised how well you do.

Am I brave? Crazy? Or just shark bait?

A great friend of mine, Debbie Solms,  has been training really hard over the last few weeks to complete the "BIG SWIM".  It's the biggest Ocean Swim that Sydney has to offer and it is right here on our beautiful Northern Beaches.  The swim is approximately a 2.5km-3.km distance from Palm Beach to Whale Beach!  Debbie is an incredible athletic and a fantastic runner (you can follow her at Beauty of Exercise), but is a little more nervous of Ocean swims (Oh you know - swimming with the sharks and rips etc could be a little daunting for the best of us!).  This is no easy challenge and in true Debbie style she has thrown herself in and is ready to go for it.  Unfortunately, a few days ago Debbie had to pull out of the swim due to personal reasons (but she'll be back to swim Bondi in Feb).  

The swim is NEXT WEEKEND (27th January) and Debs has offered me her place in the BIG SWIM!!  EEEEKKK!!!

It has been a VERY long time since I did any kind of Ocean swimming (apart from paddling with the kids to cool down on a hot summer's day) - 17 years to be precise!!  And the only kind of fitness training I have done recently has been on dry land!!!!

It looks really far............

At first I thought - "NO WAY!!" I've done no training, there is no way I'll make!!  But this teeny little voice in my head keeps saying "Go on - just give it a go!!"

When I was about 8 or 9 years old my brother I trained to swim the "dairymaid 1000"!  It was a challenge to swim 1000m in an outdoor swimming pool (so 40 lengths of a 25m pool) to win a badge and a voucher to get a Dairymaid soft serve ice-cream!  Don't you just love the lure of an ice-cream!!!!  On the day of the swim my cousin LCJ (who is a year younger than me) arrived to stay with us for the school holidays and she was ABSOLUTELY ADAMANT that she was also going to do the swim (what did I tell you about the lure of an ice-cream).  She did not want to be left out even though she had done no swimming training at all.  My dad told her "not to be so ridiculous" but she went on and on and on and on unti he eventually let her swim it.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  She was so exhausted and yet so determined to finished she was actually swimming upright for the last couple of laps!!!  Everyone was standing on the pool edge cheering and literally willing her to the end.  And she did it!!

"Fish are friends NOT food!  Bruce - are you listening???"

So if she can then I can too!!  Now that I've made up my mind to do it - with just one week to prepare, I have started to think about all the things that may be a challenge (while trying not to psyche myself out in the process).  

These are my top 5:

Sharks!!  They are the most obvious thing to fear when swimming deep in the Ocean!  Especially when there have been several sightings over the last few weeks.  Statistics say that you have more chance being hit by a car then eaten by a shark - so really...... what am I worried about??  I'm not actually that scared, well not enough to stop me getting into the Ocean, but if I see anything thing big and dark underneath me during the swim, I can't guarantee I won't freak out!!

Getting in and getting out!!  Sounds simple enough right??  In order for me to swim from one beach to the other I have to get out over the wave breaks and into the big wide Ocean.  It's probably not as hard as I'm imaging it to be (especially if you're a surfer) but I'm still a little nervous.  I've been given lots of advice, like diving under the big waves just before they're about to crash, taking a big deep breath and swimming as fast as I can under each wave.  I've also done a little bit of googling too and one trick is to dive under the wave to the bottom and use my hands on the ocean floor to pull myself forward.  I'm not so sure about that one!! I just hope the weather is good and the waves are little baby ones.  Keep your fingers crossed for me please!  My next problem - (after all that swimming) will be getting back in to the shore.  Now I'm no surfer but I think my only way is going to be body surfing the waves.  I am so grateful that there will be lots of people all coming in together as I can assure you my beach entrance is not going to be a graceful one!!!

Rips!!  I can just about recognise a rip in the ocean from standing on the shore, but I have absolutely NO idea how to recognise one once I'm in the ocean!!!!  My trusty friend google says to just let the rip take you ......... but what if it's in the wrong direction???  With only 1 week to train, I can't afford to swim for any longer than I have to!!!  

Exhaustion!!  This one speaks for itself!  I have only got 1 week to train for the Big Swim, so the chances of me hitting exhaustion are pretty real.  However, I WILL DO IT!!  Even if I end up swimming upright doggy paddle like LCJ all those year ago!!  I have been down to the pool twice since I decided to do the swim and have managed to do half the distance - which is about 25 lengths of a 50m pool.  A couple more of those and fingers crossed I'll be ok on the day.

Sea Sickness!!  Sea swimming is totally different to pool swimming as you have to contend with the swell.  I can only hope that its a nice calm day otherwise that notion of the going up.....and down.......and up........and down.........and up.............and down with the swell could have my tummy feeling a little queazy!!

Master J showing me how it's done

Mummie's first 'laps' swim in 17 years!!

So in 6 days time I will literally be throwing myself into the Ocean!  I got some advice from someone I met on twitter and he said "swim slow, swim wide and enjoy the view".  Great advice and that's exactly what I will (try) to do.  Otherwise I'll just do what Dorie says "just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming...........!!

Wish me luck!

Debbie was doing this swim as part of the Can Too Team to raise money for Cancer Research.  I'm sure you'll all agree that it is a truly worthy cause.  If you would like to sponsor her (aka ME) and help the Can Too team reach their target then you can do so by clicking HERE.  If you'd like to know more about the The Big Swim, then you can find all the information HERE.

Last week! Love Instagram!

I don't know about you, but each week on the run up to Christmas seems to be getting busier and busier!  There are just so many end of year parties, picnics, get-togethers and lunches that it's nearly impossible to find a spare minute anywhere in the almost the whole of December!  Not to mention the Christmas card writing, shopping, cooking and Santa visiting to name a few other things to squeeze in.  Phew!!!! Makes me exhausted just thinking about it.  However there is just something magical about this time of year that puts everyone in such a good mood!  I love it.

It is funny though, how we are all so busy during the 11 months that run up to Christmas that we hardly have time for all these fabulous social get-togethers and then suddenly December arrives and we try to fit EVERYTHING into one month!!

Miss L has started teething this week and the poor little bunny has not been happy at all!  All red eyed and miserable and she still managed a little smile for mummy.

Late night cuddles with Daddy.

We had some pretty hot days last week and I just LOVE LOVE how easily I can whip up some fresh, delicious ice-cream in the thermomix for the kids in just a couple of minutes.  (I always have to remember to fill my ice trays with milk as well as water now)

Miss H and her little buddy enjoying the strawberry and kiwi ice-cream that they just helped me make.

An afternoon on the beach after school.  We are all really hanging out for the school holidays now.  I am so over the daily pick up and drop offs!!  Bring on the summer holidays.

Candy Bows and I have been very busy at the local Christmas Markets over the last couple of weekends.  Mr D has been rushing around with the big kids while I've had my little Market Hippy as company.  We've had an awesome time.

Little Market buddy

I had to take a picture of this little fella at Saturday's Market!  Fabulous Christmas spirit!

Mmmmmmmm Candy Floss ( or Fairy Floss, depending on where you're from).  I dread to think what it does to their teeth!!  He had to eat it so quickly as it melted quicker than ice-cream in the heat!

I was very proud of this home-made garlic and herb bread - pretty awesome if I say so myself.  Thanks thermi!!

You wouldn't believe that the hugest storm EVER hit this beach about 15 minutes after I took this picture.

Such little darlings xxxxx