Depending on who you are, and how I know you (if I know you...), some of you will know my story and some of you won't, similarly some of you will have known my Dad, Bill. 

There are two motivations for why I took on this challenge. One is that it is finally time to say thank you to one of the charities which supported my family during the difficult time of my Dad's illness. Macmillan provided a lot of support, both nursing and adjusting to this illness. They make coping with cancer - both for the person and for their families - a bit easier. 

The other motivation is that I needed a challenge, and what better way than to add to my love of water! I used to swim when I was a teenager, and was very serious about training. I was never good enough to compete particularly, but I went religiously to training for 12 hours a week. As an adult, I stopped swimming (or at least swimming as a sport), but I continued to teach swimming, which I loved. Swimming was also something I did throughout my life with my Dad - whether he was taking me and my brother swimming every weekend, or swimming in the sea, despite the cold.

The water theme also flows through my life in another way - I am going to start a PhD in sustainable Scottish water supply in October, and I thought - what better way to start the next stage of my career (and life!) than by swimming in Scottish water!

I chose 5km because it seemed like a challenge as I knew I could already swim roughly half that in a pool, and so could build up. However, having done my first open water swim on the day of writing this (early May), I can safely say, I underestimated the challenge. There is nothing like a dip in 12 degrees C to make you nervous about what is to come. 

After all I have said about swimming, it might be easy to think that this will be straightforward. It's definitely not. I am going to have to train 5-6 days a week, work on increasing my pace so I can safely be within the time limit, as well as stamina and distance. On top of this I need to train in open water about twice a week to acclimatise to the cold, the depth and the fact that there are no handrails on a lake. Like I said, this is a challenge!

Anyway, if you've got this far, please sponsor me. It's for an incredible cause, which has personally helped me, and very likely helped you or someone you know. It's also the swimming equivalent of a half marathon! 

Thanks!

Grace