Holy bejeezus ...
Diana Nyad: I broke many records in my prime as a long-distance swimmer back in the 1970’s, in my twenties. For my world record—102.5 continuous miles from the Bahamas to Florida in 1979—and other swims, such as breaking the 50-year-old mark for circling Manhattan Island ... Yet my dream of swimming from Cuba to Florida was dashed in 1978, after fighting stiff winds and huge seas for 41hrs, 49 mins, and still not reaching the Florida coast ...
... Until a year ago, I hadn’t swum a stroke for 31 years. Swimmer’s burnout gripped me to the point that I could have sworn I would never, ever swim a lap again in my life. But approaching 60 last year threw me into the existential angst of wondering what I had done with my life ... I started swimming a few laps, just to take some pressure off the knees from all the other activities I enjoy.
My workouts escalated. My motivation started to burn like a fire in my soul. One day I was driving, after a long swim, and I stopped and looked hard in the rearview mirror. And I said to myself: This is one dream I actually could go back and achieve. At 60, I could swim from Cuba to Florida. This time, without a shark cage.
But first, a little warmup swim ...
AboutDiana: On July 10th, at the age of 60, legendary open-water swimmer Diana Nyad will attempt to complete her first marathon swim in over 30 years. Nyad's triumphant return to long-distance swimming till take her 50 miles off the Florida Coast to begin a consecutive 24-hour swim through the Gulf Stream's open-water and back to the Florida shoreline, without a shark cage.
CNN Health: Diana Nyad chases a dream
Diana's Website
Wow.
Yes. We get our swims kicked out if the pool was .0001 of an inch too short. She definitely has to prove and verify that everything was legit for WR consideration.
48 hours with no sleep and constant swimming sounds appalling to this wee sprinter. Marathon swimmers are a strange, and to be very much admired, breed.
So I guess you'd call us 500/1650 folks "sprinters" in the scheme of things. No way I'd get caught doing something that long, unless I'm driving in a car. Even a bike ride for me that far is a bit much.
I just got to wondering,how did she put on and take off her anti-jellyfish suit in the water? My wife put hers on to swim in the ocean today and it would seem to be quite a trick to put one on while treading water.
Nyad plans to meet with swimmers doubting her feat. That article doesn't give a time and place, but the Marathon Swimming forum thread about DN's epic swim puts that time and channel at "Monday (09-09-2013) at 8:00 P.M. EST Anderson Cooper (AC360) on CNN". An admin at the Marathon forum says that Diana and her team, a moderator and many of those questioning her will be present (about 20 people).
I hope this will clear up all the questions about her swim!
Latest entry in the category "Ridiculously Difficult Marathon Swims",
This month, Sylvain Estadieu will make an attempt. If he succeeds, he will be the first man to cross the English channel all butterfly.
He started this morning at 9 AM, local time. As of now, he's been swimming butterfly for a little over 11 hours.
Track is here.
