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Last Update:
August 11, 2008:
10 Days to Go
A lot has happened since the last post...
1. I've encountered my 1st earthquake being in Southern California and of course I was swimming. Mid swim set I heard a strange humming in the water and picked my head up to people yelling "Earthquake!" and my coach trying to stay dry as the pool deck trembled. I screamed with excitement "STOKED!" and waited for the after shocks.
2. About a week ago Jim, Chris and I set out to do a 4 mile out and back swim through Crystal Cove. I knew the area from our last 6 hour swim and was fairly comfortable swimming with the large rock reefs, kelp forests, and schools of fish. At the turn around point we were joined by several harbor seals--- these weren't the fluffy 50 pounders either, I'm talking kitchen table sized critters. They continued to swim along side us, making Chris and I slightly uncomfortable. They disappeared for a bit and then returned with some friends...the sea lions. Chris, now a bit more uncomfortable stops and says "I don't know about you guys, but swimming with seals and sea lions at twilight doesn't sound like a great idea to me." We laughed and headed back to shore.
3. On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of "escorting" my friend Emily Evans across the Catalina Channel. We have swam several times prior and I was honored to be apart of this life changing day for her. The plan was to swim for the first 2 hours starting at midnight and then give additional help for the boat throughout the swim. I spent the first 7 hours of the swim throwing up, sipping on gatorade, vomiting, sipping water, tossing my cookies, and then eating french toast, and consequently chumming for fish. The swell was larger than expected and I rode the sea sick train for the majority of the night. As the sun rose, the nausea left me and I was able to swim the last 2 miles with Emily (the best if you ask me). So Congrats to Emily!
For the next week I will continue to rest and swim in the ocean for no more than 2 hours. Many people are asking me "Dave, how are you feeling?" I usually reply "Ready."
The long version is "take nervousness, excitement, fear, anxiousness, hope, and love and bottle it up."
Cheers,
Dave
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