During the last few hours battling the waves, I came up with the expression – “euphoric misery” to describe my swim.   I am not sure if this expression is grammatically correct, but it states clearly how I felt — “euphoric” because I was swimming in the english channel, but “misery” because it was so painful…
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Sometime at the end of May…

I decided I wanted to swim the English Channel.

I figured it would be an achievement to do in my 39^th year (I turn 40 in January 011)  as well as something to motivate and encourage the people around me to make their lives happen.

Via google, I learned the three months of the year attempts can be made were July, August and September  – perfect.

When I decided to attempt the channel, I had no idea how it works.   I thought I could just hire a boat and a few friends and off we go… but its much more complicated.

There are a couple of associations who must approve and certify all channel swims, and you can only use certain captains/pilots who are certified by these associations.  Channel Swimming & Pilots Federation and the Channel Swimming Association.

Naively, I emailed the contact on the website of one of the pilots of  CS&PF telling him I wanted to swim the channel this year …
I received a somewhat aggressive response: “NO WAY for 2010 or 2011 the earliest would be 2012” ….. he said all the boats and captains have been booked for the next two years.

Hmmmmm.

By chance,  I emailed Julie Bradshaw the Secretary of the Channel Swimming Association – she emailed me back within 2 minutes.
She explained that I missed the deadline, all the boats have been booked, but … if I sent her my paper work immediately, she would apply for me and at the same time look for a pilot. (Julie was incredibly helpful in getting me registered to swim – she is the reason why I was able to swim this year — thank you Julie!)

A few weeks later, I found a new pilot, a fisherman who has fished the channel waters for 45 years, thus knows the tides better than most  – Peter Reed.  Peter and his son had just passed all their certifying tests and he did not have anyone registered to swim yet ….I was his first swimmer.

Reflecting back … it’s funny how naïve I was – I never doubted that I would find a slot and be able to swim…

While I was applying and trying to find a boat for my English Channel swim, I had just begun tapering for ironman France (the ironman was on June 27^th )

I figured that once I was finished with ironman France, I had two full months of swim training — I have done two ironman this year, thus have somewhat of a fitness base.  I was a competitive swimmer for 13 years of my life and still have a good feel for the water.
I sincerely, believed that 2 months of focused, hardcore open water training would work for me.

I laugh about it now, but I organized my crew before I had even officially registered for the swim ….Andy aka “Candy”, Claire, Simon aka “Oxymoron”, Anna, and Jules all agreed to crew for me.  (“crew” means to assist the swimmer and pass food, drinks, etc for the duration of the swim)

Until the week before my swim, I had never met my crew.  Candy and Oxy are part of the original Pirate’s, the UK based triathlon club which I am a proud member …

The crew is very important because they feed you, but more importantly, they keep you focused and positive — I wanted Candy to crew for me because I knew he was not a quiter, and I would be too ashamed to quit with two original Pirates – Candy and Oxy on board.

Candy has done a triple ironman, run in several 100+ mile races.   His training routine is intense –after work he will run 30-40 mile runs a few times a week…
imagine doing more than a marathon for a training run “a few times a week.”
Oxymoron has done a few ironman, Marathon des Sables, and the North Pole Marathon just to name a few.

Over the past 12 months via email, these two, esp. Candy played a key role in challenging me/motivating me to start making these ironman, endurance challenges happen.

I needed my swim to be in September so I could get 2 months of good training, and also because my two girls have to go back to school in Dubai September 11th and I could fit the swim in my summer vacation ….

Once I got the name and number of Captain Pete, I called him to discuss my game plan of trying to swim beginning of September – he said the best tides in the month of September were on September 3rd.  Perfect.

Therefore, sometime in the beginning of June, I paid the deposit for the captain and booked my swim.

Although I live in Dubai for most of the year, when my girls are out of school (during the summer) I work from Monaco and live in our home in La Turbie in the south of France which enabled me to do nearly all my swim training in the Mediterranean sea.

Over July and August…

I swam 2 – 9 hours every day, lifted weights and read every blog, swim report, book, etc I could find on the English Channel.

I emailed people who had swum it — and several gave me great input (thanks Nial!)  I  joined an open water swim forum to gain as much “mental” insight as I could.

I became friends with 6 time channel swimmer Nick Adams, the President of CS&PF.  Nick was exceptionally helpful – amazing how much time, input and support he gave me.  Nick Adams is one of the best people I have met and he played a key role in helping me get prepared to swim.

Its worth mentioning – over the year, I lost a lot of weight esp. body fat training for the ironman – but I read how people who swim the channel try to gain weight.  Some people intentionally gain up to 40 lbs … After my training trip and cold swim in Dover harbor in the middle of August, I worried that I was too thin and decided to gain as much weight as possible before my swim.
For 3 weeks in August, I ate as much as I could.  I think I gained 5-10 lbs in those 3 weeks.
Did it help me on my swim?  I have no idea.

August 31^st….

Sophie, Marie, Giovanna and I took an easy 90 minute flight from Nice, (France) to London on August 31^st – we rented a car and then drove an hour to Dover.  We stayed at a great bed & breakfast, the “St Martin’s” in Dover.

My swim had been scheduled for Friday, September 3^rd, but the weather had been terrible the entire month of August, so Captain Pete told me if the weather forecast on Thursday, September 2^nd was good – we would shoot for my swim to start around 2-3am on Thursday.

Channel swims are organized around the time of the tides and weather forecasts.
I was told the best tides for the month of September were on Friday, September 3^rd, but the tides on the 2^nd were almost as good.

I remember being excited to think if I did my swim on Thursday, we would have an entire weekend in London …

After checking into our BB, we went for a walk around Dover … it was 5pm and I was wearing jeans, two long sleeve t-shirts, a large parka jacket and a buff on my head…. I was still very cold.
I thought to myself as we walked back to our B&B, “if it’s this cold now, what’s it going to be like at 2:30am when I am scheduled to begin my channel swim… ?”

To make matters worse… in the middle of the night, I had to wake up and close the window because it was too cold.

….September 1^st

After breakfast, I walked down to the Dover harbor to do a 30 minute swim … I wanted to prove to myself that once in the water, I wouldn’t notice the outside temperature.  

With the exception of the 6 hour swim test in a cold lake in Austria and a short swim in the Dover harbor a few weeks prior, all my swim training had been done in the somewhat warm Mediterranean sea… but I didn’t care, I gambled that I would be able to acclimatize to the cold – I figured it was all mental.

The weather was perfect – clear skies and the outside temperature was warmer than the day before.
When I got to the beach, I stripped down to my speedo, walked down to the water’s edge and decided to just “jump right” in and start swimming.

Immediately, as I began swimming,  my body, especially my face burned from the cold … the pain was unbearable.
I thought to myself, “I don’t think I can last 20 minutes, how will I last 12 hours???”

I stopped to just tread water until my body was numb to the cold, kind of like when you ice your shoulder or knee … it hurts for a few minutes, but then your body gets used to it and it feels good…
I stopped and stood up to my neck in the cold water for 3 minutes, then my body felt good and I started to swim again.

I had a good 30 minute swim.  I easily acclimatized to the cold which gave me renewed confidence in my ability to finish.

After my swim, Romain and I went shopping for supplies I needed for my swim.
We bought three large jugs of Maxim, the carbo energy drink which nearly all channel swimmers drink.

“Maxim” is not sold in France or in Dubai (at least I couldn’t find any) and the online stores in the UK wouldn’t deliver to France because my credit cards are not from the UK…

A funny memory … Romain and I walked up to the counter of the Boots pharmacy with just 4 large canisters of Vaseline and a box of rubber gloves…. we both had a big grin on our faces.

The Vaseline was to protect from chaffing and help keep me warm from the cold.

On the walk back to the St. Martin’s, I called Pete to get the 100% go ahead for Thursday (which meant I would be in the water in about 12 hours)

Captain Pete said it looked good, but he wouldn’t know for certain until 7pm weather forecast — but if the weather report was good, we would meet at his boat in Folkstone Harbor at 2am

My crew were still in London working, but they would be arriving to Dover around 6pm.

Around 4pm, I got a phone call from Jules Roberts who told me his train just arrived to Dover and was going to meet me at my hotel to start helping prepare my maxim.
I had never met Jules before – he is a friend of Candy and Oxy, he couldn’t crew for me because he had to work on Friday, but he came all the way to Dover just to help us all get ready – great guy.

A funny memory… Jules, Romain, Oxy and I were sitting in the room preparing the Maxim carbo drink … I asked Jules to mix one for me because I wanted to try it — I had never tasted it before.

As I type…I can still see Oxy and Jules expressions …. They looked at me in shock and Oxy said “you have never tried Maxim before???” I then explained how I couldn’t find it in France or Dubai and due to my travel schedule for work the past two weeks, I didnt have the chance to get it until today.

They laughed (nervously) as they handed me my first taste of the drink I would be relying on during my swim.

Just the week before, Candy, Oxy and Anna had come for a long weekend to visit Sophie and I in La Turbie (it was the first time I met them all in person) Over that weekend we planned the way they would feed me and how and when to give me ibuprofen, etc.

We also discussed the mental side of the swim battle – and I asked them NOT to tell me anything about the time or how far I had to go….

They have never admitted this –but  I am sure they didn’t have confidence in my chances of finishing … Oxy asked me a few times over the weekend “aren’t you nervous?”  Sophie told me that he also came up to her and asked “is Scott nervous…?”

Of course I was nervous, but I tried not to share it with anyone.

Sept 1st, at 7pm…..

I called Pete who told me the swim was on …. And we would meet at 2:00 am, and I would be in the water by 3:30am at the latest ….

I went back to the hotel and shaved my arm pits … but I would regret later NOT shaving my chest.  (I regret this because the lanolin and Vaseline was difficult to remove from my chest hair after the swim)

My crew took care of the maxim and organizing all the supplies for the swim and they told me to go to sleep.

I don’t think I slept more than 2 hours ….

September 2^nd at 1:00 am

The alarm went off at 1am, I made my coffee, a large oatmeal and ate a joe weider bar (best tasting energy bars I have tried) and got dressed…

Everyone was down stairs waiting for me, ready to go at 1:30am … we drove 15 minutes or so, to Folkstone harbor.

The sky was clear and the sea was well lit by nearly a full moon, so it didn’t seem that dark … Sophie laughed at my good fortune and said “Giovanni is watching out for you again….”
(Givoanni was my roommate in high school and my close, brother like friend who died in a car crash in 1999 – I sometimes experience crazy good luck, so the big joke is Gio is watching out for me.)

We quickly, packed the boat and met the CSA official who would be riding with us to officiate the swim.

I said good bye to Jules, Sophie and my 6 year old Giovanna and off we went.

Although I acted tough – the truth is…. I was very scared of failing.

My swim got much more interest and media attention than I had considered, thus if I failed, I would look like a complete gimpy because so many people were following it…

The beach where I would begin my swim was about 20-30 minute boat ride from Folkstone harbor.

During the boat ride, to give me some protection from the cold, Candy and Oxy rubbed lanolin and Vaseline all over my chest, back, arms and legs … it was windy and cold on the boat, but I tried to block it out.

Finally, at 3:20 am I got into the row boat which shuttled me the few hundred meters from the main boat to the beach where I would begin my swim ….

I floated up to my neck in the cold water for 3 minutes until my body was used to the cold … then I walked completely out of the water, held both my arms up in the air – the horn blew and I dove back in the water and started to swim towards France.

The swim….

It was pitch black, but I quickly reached the boat and swam along the side of it … I was confident because I didn’t feel cold and I had a great feel for the water …

Up until this day, I had only swum in the dark one time so it took me a good 30 minutes to get used to the dark …

The sea was rough from the beginning … but I had a strong feel for the water and was not cold.  I was confident.

It seemed like instantly, I was battling the waves.

Naively, I thought to myself the more I swam away from land, the smaller the waves would be … although I had great open water swims in the Mediterranean – I never experienced swimming in these rough conditions — but I felt good in the water;  I wasn’t cold at all;  and I was swimming in the English channel so mentally, the rough seas didn’t bother me too much – at least in the beginning.

My crew and I decided before the swim that my first “feed” would be after 1 hour — and then I would stop for 10 seconds every 30 minutes and drink an energy drink …

The first hour went by fast, and I was in good spirits when I had my first maxim ….

I swam up next to the boat, Oxy lowered, and swung a small bottle of maxim down to me — I got bounced around by the waves, but managed to get a few good mouthfuls of  maxim pre-mixed with water, maple syrup topped off with warm water …

I drank the maxim under 10 seconds and started to swim again.

Swimming in the dark is a bit of a mental challenge, but the boat was well lit up so I used it as my guide and swam along the side it.

It took me a while to get used to the rough seas.  I swallowed a lot of water.  Sometimes my head would be knocked out of the water as I was breathing.  I like to breath every 3 strokes, but because the waves were crashing from my left, I had to breath only on my right … so I ended up breathing every 2 strokes for most of the swim.

What do you think about while swimming for 14 hours in rough seas?

I tried to get into a rhythm and focus on thinking about something to take my mind off the swim … but I spent so much time trying not to swallow water, being hammered by the waves that I never had a peaceful moment to think about anything.

For most of the swim, I just watched everyone on the boat …

I noticed Romain, my brother in law – who came all the wayfrom Dubai to Dover just to film the adventure …. I noticed he was standing up facing the other way, obviously not making a video …

I realized he was sea sick …

The first few hours flew by, but Dover never seemed to go away … I would turn around to look and see the lights … I kept thinking to myself “is that still Dover!?”

The sunrise was unreal – I stopped for 15 seconds or so, looked at the gorgeous sunrise thanked God for my life and kept swimming …

I didn’t wear a watch.
I did not want to know how long I had swum, or how much more I had to swim …
we had planned before the swim – no matter what, they would not tell me how much further I had to go…

However,  I was taking “feed breaks” each 30 minutes, I somewhat kept track of the time … but the sea was so rough that it kept me busy swimming and not swallowing water … the time went by quickly.

Around the 6th feed stop, I vomited a lot – but I felt much better.  The puking seemed to give me renewed energy.

Oxy and Candy kept telling me how great I was doing …
Candy told me how I had just passed another swimmer  (later in the day, my crew knew that 3 other swim attempts had failed, but  decided not to tell me because they didn’t want any negative thoughts to creep in my head)

I had zero visibility in the water …
I had read about other swimmers having 10+ meters and seeing jelly fish, but I saw nothing except green muck … I guess it was because of the rough seas.  I did not get stung by a jelly fish – I never saw one.

The channel swim is 90% mental….

As I swam, I felt very strong in the water … and during each feed break, my crew would tell me that I was “swimming very fast” “well ahead of my 13 hours schedule” “on track to be one of the fastest channel swims this year” etc.

I would learn after the swim – they were completely lying!

Apparently, as I entered the shipping lane, I got caught in a very strong current for 2-3 hours I did not make much forward headway … instead of swimming towards France, I got pushed to the south, further away from France…

The crew used a large white board to write messages from people who texted and to communicate with me
One time – I swimming, feeling great … and Candy and Oxy held up the large white board with the message:  “GOOD NEWS THE TIDE IS PUSHING YOU FORWARD”
This message gave me even more strength and I started to fantasize about breaking 10 hours…

The truth was … the tide was not pushing me forward, I was being carried away from land by a strong current… but my crew wanted me to think I was moving forward when I wasn’t.

I wasn’t cold, but I noticed the water seemed to get colder as I swam … the sea also seemed to get more aggressive.

In my head, I figured I had been swimming for 8-9 hours … because I was “flying” as my crew had told me, I assumed I had about 90 minutes to go … so I asked my crew to give me “flat coke” …. And NO more maxim.

Oxy asked me if I wanted diet coke – but I told him “no, only regular flat coke …”

I did not know we didn’t have coke, we only had diet coke … so Oxy and Candy took diet coke, put sugar and maxim in it … did something (which I still don’t understand) to take out the fizz and gave me what I thought was “flat coke…”
By now, I was so tired that I did not notice, and it tasted great …

I had coffee a few times … although they promised me the coffee was just coffee, it was mixed with maxim to ensure I had fuel to keep going – I never noticed.

In my mind, I thought I was almost finished … and I started to celebrate.  I would learn after the swim, the time when I thought I was nearly finished …. I wasn’t even at the half way point!!!

I take ibuprofen during the ironman and it works well for me – so I planned to take ibuprofen every 4-6 hours on the swim ….

At one feed stop, I told Candy that I wanted 4 advil tablets at the next feed.

I must point out that the seas were rough and Romain, Claire and Tata were sea sick … and during all of this, Anna would be boiling water or preparing my drinks and keeping the thermos full of hot water.

Each feed break was done much the same way, I would lay on back as I poured the drink in my open mouth … I couldn’t put the bottle to my lips because of the rough sea.

When they tried to hand me advil, I dropped it into the water … instead of having 4 x 200 mg, I had only 1 x 200 mg

I didn’t notice any difference from the advil and I only took it one more time on the swim, and the 2^nd time I tried, the same thing happened, I lost them in the water.

Towards the middle of the swim, I became incredibly hungry …  and asked them to prepare a “joe weidar bar” for me at the next feed …. they cut the bar into small pieces, put into the cup on a stick and kind of poured it into my mouth from the boat — those bars tasted so good.

Finally, we could see France …

I swam harder than ever – I noticed that I used a 6 beat kick for much of the swim … which is unusual for me because I normally use maybe a 2 beat kick during long training swims.

The last 3-5 hours were absolute hell.

I never thought about quitting.
I never thought I would fail.
But my shoulders were dead.  I kept asking at the feeds “are you sure I am getting closer to France because it doesn’t appear to me…”

They all said “yes, you are making great time ….”  Anna even told me that she was following me on GPS and I “was definitely getting closer…”

Of course they were lying…

The Captain would tell me later that the wind had picked up to force 4-5 … my crew knew that the other swim attempts were failing, but each time I would stop … they would all have smiles on their faces and tell me how great I was doing.

The day after my swim, Captain Pete told me he had been very concerned about me being able to finish because the weather had turned….

I kept hoping the next feed would be my last one … maybe 6 feeds after I started to think about it being my last one… finally, they said “your last feed – now go as fast as you can towards land…”

The waves were very big and seemed to be pushing towards land….

During the swim I had fantasized about what it would be like when I reached France.
I dreamed about my finisher photo, what I would say; who I would thank, etc.

But towards the end of my swim, I was unbearably cold – and my right shoulder was dead …

I could just barely swim free style … sometimes I would switch to breast stroke … I don’t think physically, I could have gone much further.

I wasn’t thinking about my finisher photo, nor my finisher speech … all I wanted to do was touch France, get out of the water … and then get into the row boat which would take me back to the main boat and go home.

After 14 hours and 1 minute … I stood on French land – I did it.

But the end was far less glamorous than I had dreamed …

I struggled to get out of the water and was out for less than 30 seconds.
I could hardly stand up.  I was freezing and my my right shoulder was dead – like it was paralyzed.
Euphoric misery…

When I got back to the main boat – it was very windy (gale force 5) and cold … but we still had a 3 hour boat ride back to Dover in rough seas!

Luckily, I slept most of the ride back.

Back at St. Martin’s, I slept very poorly that night – my body ached more than ever, especially my right shoulder.

We spent the weekend in London, but while Sophie and the girls went sightseeing, I relaxed mostly at Hyde Park or at a café in pain.

I felt like crap for a couple of days.  My shoulders still hurt 6 days after my swim.

A special thanks to my crew – team captain - Oxymoron, Candy, Anna, Claire, Marie and my Tata
There is no way I would  have succeeded if my crew had not been as positive and encouraging … because of their enthusiasm and confidence, I was confident.

I would like to make a special mention to my brother in law, Romain Tordo … he is one of my closest friends who constantly, challenges me to be better.  Leading up to my swim, he called or emailed me every day to hear about my training.  When I would have a bad training day, he would encourage me to get over it and helped get me back on track.

I appreciate all the interest and support I received from the Pirates.

Lastly, I want to thank my wife, Sophie – she is my inspiration to be the best I can be.
She challenges, encourages and supports me - probably my biggest motivator to finish this swim was to make her proud.

My swim is a good example of wanting something so badly, we make it happen …

Hopefully, this crazy swim will inspire others to go out and make life happen.

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For anyone looking to swim the channel:

I highly recommend St Martin’s Guest House in Dover:  +44(0)1304 205938  www.stmartinsgh.co.uk
Channel Swimming Association:  Julie Bradshaw  swimsecretary@ntlworld.com
Captain Peter Reed:  petethecrab@hotmail.co.uk

My body is very tired and sore, esp. my right shoulder … so I have not yet sat down and written my swim report.

Ideally, I will do this tomorrow and post it with pictures.

I would like to thank the Pirate Ship of Fools (Pirates) UK based triathlon club for their incredible interest and support.

People I have never met gave me incredible encouragement and support.

Moreover…

There is no way I could have completed this swim without the support of my “Pirate” crew– Jules Roberts, Candy, Oxy, Anna, Claire, Tata, Romain and my 15 year old daughter Marie.

Consider this ….

How many people reading this blog would….

Drop everything you are doing to take a 90 minute train at the last minute from London to Dover …
spend an entire evening filling water bottles with carbo powder, and packing supplies…
even rush to a store at 10pm to buy last minute supplies of water…
go to sleep at midnight…
wake up at 1:30am to help load two cars with bags of food and supplies… 
ride on someones lap in a packed car to a harbor to move the supplies from the cars into the boat…
help get everything ready and then get off the boat and wave good bye to the team….because you have to work so can not join everyone
go back to a small BB and sleep in a bed that has already been slept in by someone else ….
wake at 7am to rush back to London to not be late for work at 9am….

How many people would do all of the above for someone you have never met, or spoken to before???

Jules Roberts did this for me.

Although I had never met the guy until 8 hours before my swim; I never even spoke with him on the phone, he dropped everything he was doing to come and help get me ready and sorted for my swim. 

He was the first person to call me to say congratulations after I had finished.

Thank you Pirates — and a special thanks to Jules Roberts

Tomorrow I will post my a blog on the swim with pictures

As of last week,  4 of the 5 failed in their attempts, and the 5^th after waiting two weeks, finally had to cancel his swim attempt and fly back to America because of bad weather. 

Last week, the most confident (cocky)  I have met training for this, failed … he quit his attempt just 6 hours in the water because of the cold …

But during this same period where these people quit, a few others have succeeded.

Every single report I have read about the English channel swim challenge states this challenge is 90% mental. 

Tonight I called my captain to find out how the weather was looking for my swim which will be either this Thursday or Friday. 
He told me everything looks good for an attempt on Thursday, Sept. 2nd.

We will start at 2:00 am and he expects me in the water by 3:00 am … and he laughing said,  “the water will be a lot warmer than the air… because the air will be between 6-8 degree’s celcius” (40-43 degrees F) and the water 16 degrees celcius (62 degree F) 

My first thought wasn’t   ”great!  I cant wait to start my swim ….” 
My first thought was   ”damnnnnn…. that’s cold ……” 

Sophie got me sorted straight away with her, “Of course its cold.  It’s the English Channel thats exactly why you are doing this“….

If I focus on the cold, before or during this swim  – I will fail. 

But…

It all depends on me. 

It’s interesting to think about life and how mental everything is.    

A week ago,  a friend sent me a book to help me mentally prepare for my english channel swim challenge.  

The book “Running on Faith” is the story of Jason Lester, a multi-ironman finisher, 2 time ultraman, he created “EPIC5,”  5 ironman in 5 days on the 5 islands of Hawaii…

What makes Jason’s story unique is that he achieves all of these adventure, endurance challenges with the use of just one of his arms. 

But I don’t think reading about JPL’s incredible story of making life happen in the face of adversity was the reason my friend sent me the book….

In the beginning of the book, Jason asks an interesting question: 

“When does the human spirit give in to the limits of the human body and just close up shop?  Or can we go as far as our spirit takes us?” 

Using his story, he shows how strong the human spirit can be when it is not blinded or consumed by negativity …. 

I won’t go into the details of the book – but it’s an interesting question or thought:  “can we go as far as our spirit wants to take us?”

My 4 different forum buddies who failed to cross the channel over the past 6 weeks … what separates them from the several who succeeded? 

Have you failed at something because you let negativity blind you/blind your spirit from seeing the finish? 

I think everyone has. 

Today – I fly to London to get ready for my swim on Thursday.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

For those interested in reading more about Jason Lester’s “Running on Faith” 
 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061965723/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1EFSHHA3WC3MQYAR3BMN&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Great book —  I read it in one sitting.
I even read two of the chapters three times. 

We got into a discussion on my blog…

In particular he said he was “inspired” by my English Channel swim challenge, but he felt I was “not properly marketing it.” 

“Your writing style can gain a lot of readership – but you have to align yourself to a charity to be able to better market your English channel swim and all the other adventure challenges you are doing….” 

I tried to explain…. (we have discussed this in the past so our conversation was not a new one)

I am not doing this swim to market myself. 

I don’t give a damn about marketing my blog — marketing my blog would go against everything I stand for in this blog, hence, I do not allow naseba’s communication team to promote, link or market my blog in anyway.

He seemed annoyed by my response….  

Once again, he tried to persuade me that I could expand my readership of this blog and gain more media interest for my various endurance challenges if I aligned myself to “a cause.” 

By now I was annoyed and frustrated so sorted of shouted:  “ I AM aligned to a cause …” 

“My cause” is to remind everyone:  “but, we have to make our lives happen.”  

In my opinion… 

Too many people waste their lives on facebook.

Too many people live vicariously through movie stars and pro-athletes.

Too many people sit around and talk about what they are going to do tomorrow… 

How many people reading this have a goal or a “dream” yet have done nothing to try and go after achieving this dream?

Dreaming and setting a goal is a complete waste of time if you don’t go after (at least) try to achieve your goal.

Maybe your goal has nothing to do with physical activity … but whatever it is — try and make it happen.

How and why did I get the idea to attempt to swim the english channel?

I remember the morning/instant very clearly….it was a couple of months ago, around 3:30 am.

I was reading the news and drinking my morning coffee, getting ready for a 4 hour bike ride before work  – at the time, I was training for Ironman France.

On that specific morning, I read a news story about a business man who twice failed to swim the English channel.

The article stated that only 30% of the people who attempt to swim the English channel make it to the other side.

It went into explaining that summiting Mt Everest is statistically, more achievable than swimming the English channel.

More than 4,000 people have stood on the summit of Mt Everest.
Less than 900 people have successfully, swum the English Channel.

One site states that out of 4,370 attempts, only (just over) 800 have been successful (which is less than 20% success rate)

Thus, I discovered only 20-30% of the people who attempt to swim the English channel succeed.

I was hooked.

September 3^rd is the day my swim attempt is scheduled.

I have done two Ironman this year which gives me somewhat of a base to work with – and for the past month I have been hammering the weights, cross trainer, and swimming more hours than I have done in my life.

I lost a lot of body fat over the year, and my weight is down to 190-195 lbs ….but I read most people intentionally - gain up to 40 lbs for their swim.  The extra fat protects from the cold. 

I am lucky because my life style and working schedule is conducive to training – and my wife, Sophie is extremely supportive and does everything she can to accommodate and support my training schedule.

Although I work and live most of the year in Dubai, I have an office in Monaco and a house in the south of France.
Since my girls are on break from school in Dubai, we live in France for the summer and I work from my office in Monaco.

I  swim in the Mediterranean sea for 2-3 hours a day (either early in the morning or after work) and longer on the weekend.

I lift weights 3 times a week and do the cross trainer every day for 60 minutes.
I have also been working my core more focused than ever before.

To research and learn as much as I can about the swim, I joined a couple forums and emailed people who have swum the channel, etc.

A few months ago, I became forum buddies with 3 people who were also training to cross the channel.
Two of them have been training for more than one year (most people train for at least a year) ….
To my surprise, all 3 of these people failed in their attempts over the past two weeks.

Physically, I will be ready.

It will all depend on my adjustment to the cold water, the weather, and how strong mentally, I will be when the going gets tough.
13-14 hours in freezing cold water is a long time…

According to the captain of the boat who I hired (if all goes to plan) I will begin my swim from Dover, England around 2-3am on September 3rd and swim towards Calais, France.

It’s about 21-24 miles across, but because of the tide and currents, I can expect to swim about 30 miles.

I figure the swim will take me 13-15 hours.

A boat will follow along side me as I swim – and I will feed (drink something) every 20-30 minutes.

An official from the channel swimming association will be onboard  to officiate the crossing.

Why am I doing this?

Because I want to experience the cold, pain, suffering and see if I am mentally and physically strong enough to make this happen.

Only a 20-30% success rate makes the English channel swimmer part of an exclusive club.

On September 3rd – I will do everything in my power to make sure I join this club.

The weather in the south of france right now is perfect.

Sophie stayed at home this weekend to relax by the pool…while I woke up at 4am this morning to catch a small commuter jet at 6:00… to arrive to Munich, Germany … and then struggled to find my train which I then rode for 2 hours to Austria…. where it rained the entire day and is scheduled to do the same tomorrow….

…and I am here in Austria just so I can test myself and swim 6 hours non stop tomorrow morning in a 55 F degree lake.

Irronically, I had a comment today asking me to explain/do a blog on ”why” I have set the goal to swim the english channel?

Which reminded me of a discussion I have had off and on for the past 10 years with the Voice of Reason…. who thinks that all too often goals are set without being fundamentally grounded in “why” it is a goal.

His question is always the same: “Big or small, should not a goal be rooted in some type of value-based process?”

He has asked me numerous times…

Why do I want to do more ironmans?
Why do I want to travel to 120 countries?”
Why do I want to swim the english channel?

I keep telling him, if we think too much about why we want to do something, i.e. why we set a certain goal, we will end up just sitting around thinking about it – and possibly not go about trying to make the goal happen.

Surely, our biggest goals have an immutable “why” to them, but its never that simple — example,  “Achievement” is what drives me, but, my goal of traveling to 120 different countries has only to do with my love of adventure.

Furthermore….

If I sat around trying to figure out and understand exactly, why I have certain goals … I could easily talk myself out of trying to achieve them.

Even if one maps out and understands clearly why they want to achieve something — it is meaningless to set a goal  if one does not do everything in their power to achieve the goal.

I suggest going after a goal, and doing everything in ones power to achieve – even if one fails,  in the end, it’s still better than sitting around at a cafe thinking about “why” they should be setting the goal.

As for me ….

why am I sitting in a small chalet style of hotel somewhere in the middle of Austria getting ready to swim 6 hours in the rain in the coldest lake in this country…training for my attempt to swim the english channel in 7 weeks … why am doing this??  Why do I want to attempt to swim the english channel??????

I can make up some politically correct BS answer…

But to be completely honest -

I am doing this for the ”finishers photo.”

I went to boarding school for three years with Chipper Jones … who today is one of the best baseball players in MLB. He has played for the Atlanta Braves for his entire career, broken many records, won the National League MVP, won a world series, earns 17 million dollars a year salary … and without question will end up in the hall of fame.

I think it is worth noting that Chipper signed a contract when he was first drafted in 1990 which several agents and players complained was not big/good enough. Many people claimed Chipper signed for too little money.

I remember reading a quote by Chipper – although he was just 18 years old at the time, I admired him for his maturity — he said something like: “my goal is not to be the highest paid player in the minor leagues … my goal is to play professional baseball.” (8 years later he would sign one of the biggest contracts ever in baseball)

Chipper did not rush to his summit.

Instead of rushing to the majors (like I would have wanted to do if I had been in his place), Chipper spent 4.5 years in the minor leagues preparing/training/developing for the day he would be sent to the big leagues.

Back in 1990, the same year Chipper was drafted 1st — another young, up and coming super talent was drafted 4th overall pick …. Todd van Poppel. Van Poppel was expected to become the next great pitcher, maybe even the greatest ever and I remember him being on the cover of several sports magazines.

Van Poppel’s agents fought to ensure he went to the big leagues as soon as possible – and fought and fought with the team that drafted him to ensure he made as much money as possible upon signing.

He rushed to his summit.

A few years later …. no one remembers Todd van Poppel because he went to the majors very quickly, ended up getting injured, bounced from team to team for a few years and retired completely unfulfilling what was expected from his talent.

Recently, I watched a documentary on Mt. Everest — the film was about the 1996 tragedy on Mt. Everest where eight people died.

The night of the tragedy … David Breashears – the man who filmed the documentary discussed how he and his team were at camp 3 … all set to go for the summit, everything seemed good – he commented that the weather was good — just a bit windy, but no sign of a storm coming.

However, they decided not to rush to the summit …. he commented that he and his team leader looked down the mountain and saw 65 people climbing up and they did not want to be in a position where they were coming down from the summit at the same time as so many people were climbing up.

So he and his team walked back down to base camp and put off their summit climb for another 10 days — and missed the storm that killed 8 people.

He made a point of stating to the interviewer that he and his team were not “lucky” for turning away and missing the storm — they were “consistent, prudent and focused.”

Unfortunately, 8 people died that night.

I would have been one of those that would have been in trouble stuck near the top, maybe even one that died because I would have wanted to get to the top as soon as possible.

I think many people — me included, sometimes start a climb … but when we do not see immediate results…. we quit, or break our consistency.

…trying to rush to the summit too quickly, sometimes forces us to make mistakes and ultimately we fall.

Losing weight; learning another language; developing into a leader; achieving ones goals…. does not happen over night.

Instead of rushing to the top of your mountain; or goal ….stay “consistent and focused.”

Even if success does not come right away … surely, by staying consistent and focused one has a better chance of getting to their summit.

Next time you are about to quit your climb … remember that the man at the top did not run there.

and never forget that some of the best things in life are the hardest to get.

I have been captivated because I don’t understand how & why this commands so much attention and interest. 

Like 99.9999% of the people in America, whether he plays in Cleveland or Miami has zero impact on my life, job, family, and overall existence.

 Before I continue …consider this:

The guy is 25 years old and went straight from high school to the NBA where within 7 years has become one of the greatest players in NBA history.

He has lived his entire life in Ohio …

Now he has the opportunity to live in New York City, Chicago, Miami, or Cleveland.

Regardless of money, more sponsorship opportunities, incomparable market place and overall life style … lets be completely, honest…. Where would you choose to live? 

The Cavs owner called LBJ “spoiled” and “narcissistic” …

Of course Lebron is spoiled and narcissitic… he is 25 years old worth 100s of millions of dollars; the media all over america entirely focuses on him - even the President of United States said 7 times throughout the week “I hope King James goes to Chicago…” 

the truth is…

American culture,  the fans and Dan Gilbert are the ones who have created this “spoiled, narcissist …”

 … but who am I/who are we to give any input on where a 25 year old NBA star wants to live and play basketball? 

Lastly…

Why do so many people live vicariously through celebrities, sports stars, movie stars, etc? 

…don’t waste your time and energy living someones elses life — make your own life happen.

Where is John Galt?

The world markets are struggling not to fall apart …. unemployment in America is climbing in just about every state….
Oil is gushing nonstop in the gulf of mexico ….without question, 10,000′s of people who relied on tourism, fishing, etc have been hugely affected by this oil spill ….  yet american media focuses our attention on Lindsay Lohan.

Each time I post a blog attempting to battle the negatives in the media, naseba’s marketing director tells me with a smile on his face:  the media is just supplying what is demanded…

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
I posted this blog 13 months ag0 – but it sets the tone for tomorrow’s post, thus I re-post today.

(repost from May 2009)

Yesterday, I saw on CNN.com a headline, the 4th headline news article (this is no joke) “are some sexual toys harmful to your health?”

Today a few headlines on CNN:

3rd headline: “Hulk Hogan: I totally understand O.J.” a story where he says he understands why OJ killed his ex-wife

5th headline: “unlikely singing sensation eyes date with queen” this story is not worth commenting on

6th headline: “cuddly robot seal impacts the lives of elderly.” I didnt waste my time to read this story

1st headline: North Korea poses real threat to the world (Lets be honest – the reality is that Guam is about as much of a threat to the world as North Korea)

Other headlines: there is a graphic (although entertaining) video of a 911 call where we get to hear a woman screaming on the phone about a drunk man who was trying to break into her home, then we get to hear her husband shoot and kill the drunk man all on the headline video.

There is not one story on the greatness in man.

Yesterday, I saw a small article in the news about Isiah Thomas accepting to become the Head Coach of a tiny, almost non existent college basketball team at FIU in Miami.

Isiah Thomas is a NBA hall of fame player turned coach who had 3 very successful years coaching the Indian Pacers to the playoffs, 3 years in a row during the period he was the head coach.

Then he got hired as the General Manager and Head Coach of the New York Knicks, had a great beginning, but from what I have read, Isiah had a very difficult time managing/coaching mega spoiled baby super star athletes who did not work as hard as he expected them.

He lasted two years before resigning; he was probably forced out.

It is worth noting that when Isaih Thomas was a professional, super star NBA basketball player, he was never in the news for getting into trouble; he is not covered in tatoo’s and never had an asshole haircut.

He just performed.

… many months after he resigned from the Knicks, he recently turns down two other NBA head coaching jobs, but accepts to coach a tiny, almost non existent college basketball team in Miami – FIU.

But it gets better — he announced yesterday, he is donating his 1st years salary back to the University who just hired him.

A great, inspirational story which is not even in the headlines on ESPN.com right now; it is not even mentioned on the first page of the CNN sport site.

HOWEVER….

I guarantee …. IF Isiah had accidently, run over a pit bull puppy with his car while driving, he would be commanding headline news/breaking news coverage for his cruelty to animals.

Furthermore….

Another great story, I never heard about — the Voice of Reason sent me 3 emails telling me to blog about it, but it wasnt until his 3rd email that i finally read the story …

The story of another sports hero, this time in the NFL, James Harrison …

Harrison was drafted in 2003 and made $5,000, but was cut from the Steelers — over his career, he was cut 3 times by the Steelers and once by the Ravens (4 times he was told he was not good enough for the NFL), but he believed in himself and kept fighting.

Last year, Harrison was named the NFL Defensive Player of the year – he also had the longest interception return in super bowl history and starred on the team who won the super bowl.

He recently, signed a new contract worth $51.5 million which guarantees him 20 million dollars.
He earned less than 800,000 dollars a year over the past 4 years – so suddenly, he is extremely, wealthy.

Harrison’s response to his big contract was “I want to make them proud and not let them down ….. this is what is going to drive me.” And the article I read comments that he was back in the weight room training two days after the super bowl victory.

The story I refer to above – it didnt make headline news — in fact, it never came close to being headline news worthy.

Why would we want to hear a story about a man who gets cut 4 times in the NFL, but never quits — ultimately, becoming the best defensive player in the game, wins a super bowl, has the longest interception in the super bowls history – and is back in the gym training two days after the super bowl…he gets rewarded with a $51.5 million contract — and his response is to say how grateful he is the the Steelers – and that he doesnt want to let them down….this story is not interesting …

its much more interesting to read about Madonna trying to adopt a couple of Nigerian babies.

Although Harrison’s greatness did not command headline news last week — the super star Terrel Owens made the headlines for not showing up to practice…

I guarantee, IF Harrison had been pulled over by some white cop in Alabama and discovered to be driving his Ford Explorer with expired registration, it would command headline news.

Seriously …

why don’t we ever hear stories on the greatness in man in the news today?

Who really gives a F…. about “a robot seal helping the elderly?”

How does this news item have any positive impact on anyone?

Although I completely understand Hulk Hogan’s sentiment, in his headline worthy article he discusses that he is not allowed into his 20,000 SQF home (which he paid for) and a 19 year old is driving his $75,000 car (which he paid for) as well as sleeping with his ex-wife whose only claim to fame was marrying the Hulk and riding on his success, thus Hulk mentions in the article he understands why OJ killed his wife.

BUT why does this negativity command the 3rd headline news story on CNN.com today?

What does it say about the world we live in today (or maybe I should say what does it say about America) when what readers are more interested in reading/hearing about are dangerous sex toys; people killing people with guns; teachers having sex with 13 year olds (one story recently was about a 13 year old sleeping with two different teachers in the same school and neither teacher knew about the other); movie star break ups; stories on the failures of man ….. instead of wanting to read/hear about stories on the greatness in man.

Where is John Galt?

Our last night there, we had dinner with a close friend of ours who wanted to (as he put it) “share someone special with you guys” and to introduce us to his best friend since childhood, Henry.

Our friend is in his late 50’s so I assume his friend is also in his late 50s or early 60s.

The dinner was at our friends home which is an hour gorgeous drive outside Amsterdam.

Amazing home.

Henry met us at the door when we arrived, and treated Sophie and I as if we were his special guests.
He was extremely well dressed,  the best dressed  out of everyone.  He walked with a cane, but he walked so smoothly, I wondered if he really needed the cane or not.

Anyways…

I sat next to him at dinner and spent most of the evening with him because he had a lot of interest in discussing my vegan diet, ironman training and my other adventures, especially my swim across the English channel.

Throughout the evening he smiled and radiated happiness –  he didnt say anything which was remotely negative.
I assumed by the way he carried himself he was in great health – to be honest, I never even considered his health.

Henry made us all laugh with his jokes and happy go lucky demeanor during the dinner.

We talked a lot about my swim across the English channel – he showed so much interest in my swim that I invited him to come on the crew boat which will go with me as I attempt the swim in September.

But he said with a big grin on his face:   “I might have an important trip to take before” and pretended to look through his diary which he had in his sports jacket pocket…. Henry and our friend laughed a lot at this joke.  I didn’t understand what was so funny and assumed he just didn’t want to go.

After dinner, we all sat around talking until around midnight – maybe Sophie and I got back to our hotel by 1:30am … we talked about Henry the entire drive back to the hotel.

I really looked forward to seeing him again.

Early yesterday morning…  around 6 am, Giovanna (my 6 year old) and I walked down to the boulangerie  (baker) near my home in La Turbie to get fresh bread for breakfast.

The weather was perfect – but the first thing the woman behind the counter said to me, even before the perfunctory “bonjour” was:  ”it’s hot….”

I never pay attention to this senesless negativity, ordered my bread, paid and left … on the walk back home Giovanna asked me:  ”papa why did that woman say it’s hot … it’s not hot at all. It’s still dark outside.”
(in French its much funnier)

I explained to Giovanna that most probably the woman had nothing else to say, and to fill the space she says “it’s hot.”
Giovanna mumbled to herself something in French about the woman being ridiculous… (even a 6 year old understands)

Maybe 15 minutes later ….

After Gio and I had made our toast together and taken Sophie her breakfast, I  sat down in my chair with my coffee & toast and logged onto my computer which opened with facebook.

I do not promote my blog on facebook, thus I am not sure if and how many of the 91 friends I have on FB read this blog …so I am not sure whose feelings I might be hurting, but….

The first several “status updates” by various friends, most of whom I have not seen since high school, are all negative comments or ramblings.

a few examples:

“I don’t want to go to work tomorrow!!!”
“ I ate too much ice cream!”
“I woke up in the middle of the night and could not fall back to sleep WTF”
“my kids have to go to the doctor tomorrow…”
“I feel sick, maybe I have food poisoning?”

As I am wadding through the muck of moaning, negativity … thinking to myself: “what is the use of telling your friends you dont want to go to work…”??? Sophie comes down stairs with her mobile phone in her hand and tells me with a dazed look on her face: “Henry died last night.”

My first response was “who is Henry?” … but as soon as the question came out, I remembered he’s the nice man we had dinner with less than a week ago.

A man whom I just enjoyed a dinner with less than 6 days ago died???

We later learned that Henry had terminal cancer and knew he was going to die very soon –but he remained a beacon of positivity focused on the good in life,  so positive and upbeat —  we now understand what our friend meant by “I want to share someone special with you.”

Sophie went back up stairs and I looked back down at my laptop …. and went back to reading through all the whining, moaning…. status updates by various friends of mine.

Then I thought of my grandparents….

My Grandmother is 88 years old and my Granddad is 94 years old.  In my entire life, I have never once heard them say a negative word — never once have I heard them say “its hot” “i am tired” “i dont feel good” etc.  I have never heard them complain or say a negative word about anyone or anything.  Surely, their positivity is why they have lived such long fullfilled lives.

Perfectly stoic and focused on the positives in life, very much like Henry.

Henry had terminal cancer — Instead of spending the rest of his time feeling sorry for himself, he made the most of it – and remained positive until the end, celebrating life.

It puts things into a perspective.

… meeting someone who knows he has terminal cancer; knows he is going to die very soon, but remains positive and upbeat until the end (doesn’t even tell you he is sick)….at least for me, this person is very inspiring.

The world we live in today…

all the moaning, complaining, feel sorry for ourselves platforms …

Seriously — notice today how many people bitch about something; how many people focus on something negative vs how many people focus on something positive.

Why has the world become this way?
Why do so many people go through life feeling sorry for themselves?

…..unfortunately, I didn’t ask Henry if he knew where John Galt is living.