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Windermere is a very long lake and at 10.5 miles is a very long swim! I've undertaken quite a lot of open water swims since starting 6 years ago including an English Channel Relay, a crossing from Asia to Europe, several lakes in the Lake District and a beautiful swim along a lake bordering Montenegro and Albania. But this challenge has turned out to be something very different and with hindsight, which is a wonderful thing, one which would take me well outside my comfort zone. I couldn't be doing what I'm doing without a very special friend and coach, Caroline, who has kept me going through thick and thin, dark cold mornings swimming at 6.00am and continuous encouragement through drills which at times never seem to end! The training for this has taken me into training I never thought I'd get into and never knew existed!! Swimming twice a day, 6 days a week, covering over a 1000 lengths of a pool a week,  open water practice, drills, it's a challenge but if I manage this marathon it will have been worth it. On my 54th birthday in July I  covered 11.5 miles so there is hope I may manage this!

On  this adventure  I've met some great new people, some awesome swimmers and even started to get into sports psychology! I'm fitter now than I ever have been. Ahead of me are a few training swims a 3km in Semerwater, Coniston 5.25 miles and then Windermere on September 20th.  There is no book for a 50 something to read how to do this, family support and a great swimming teacher is all you need!

In about February when all was booked for the swim I decided that I needed to do this for charity and Oscar's Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity (http://www.oscarspbtc.org) seemed a superb cause, one local to where I live, one which Caroline had close links to and with September being Child Cancer Awareness month Oscar's seemed the best one for me to support. Have a look at their web site and any support you can give me I'd really appreciate.

Thank you and happy swimming🏊‍♀️🏊‍♀️🏊‍♀️🏊‍♀️

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