In the Water I Go.

Written Jan 2018

Swimming has been such a huge part of my life, I have vivid memories of learning to swim as a child. I didn't realise how much being in the water would eventually impact me.

There were a few places I leaned to swimming lessons, for me they all shared a similar thing.

Excitement. Unadulterated excitement. 

It wasn't one thing it was the whole experience. The build-up in arriving, my heart beating faster in anticipation. The chlorine smell as I neared the changing room. The heat from the changing room, seeing the water and finally getting in to experience the coolness around my body.

The feeling of getting in, being enveloped by the water, was exquisite. That has never really left me, I still get the same sensation of anticipation before I get in, even now. 

I have never been a completion swimmer, I didn’t join a swimming club as a youngster. I can’t perform the butterfly stroke, I can breaststroke and back stoke but I’m not really that fast. Front crawl swimming s my thing, I’m probably more suited to longer distance swimming than fast 50m or 100m  swims. And here’s another thing I can’t tumble turn, I think I managed a version before I was injured. But I certainly can’t do it now. 

As a youngster when my twin brother and I were learning to swim. In 1987 my local pool was undergoing some renovations, at some point, an accident occurred and the whole building was burnt to the ground. All the lessons took place at various swimming pools around the city. As I recall we used Winchester Colleges pool for private lessons and the army recruit training facility which was just outside our city as well. My brother and I also had access to a neighbours outdoor pool, my dad had helped dig it out one summer. I remember we had to ask if we were allowed to go down to use it, the pool wasn’t heated either but I loved getting in there on a hot day. 

If I wasn’t swimming in a pool, during the summer we could always find somewhere else to swim whether it was the local beach or a river near our house. In hindsight, this may have not been the wised thing to do, but never the less it was fun at the time. 

As I got older my swimming held me in good stead, it always surprised me the number of people who are either scared of the water or simply can’t swim. 

When I first joined the army this became more apparent to me, some of the fittest and toughest soldiers regardless of gender really struggled in the water. It never occurred to me that people didn’t learn as children. 

One year whilst away on operations tour I decided to take up triathlon.  I took this opportunity to read magazines and books about this relatively new sport. I planned which bike I was going to buy and the races I was going to compete in, I was chopping at the bit to get back and get started. 

I enjoyed the idea of training for three different events, it meant that I didn’t get bored. Upon my return, I got my first proper road bike. Hours and hours were spent out on my new peddles getting lost around Hampshire and Wiltshire. Sometimes  I would run into town, swim and then run home again. Over the years I competed in a few races. My favourite being the London Triathlon, it was fun and exciting. This new sport was starting to gain traction in the UK, each year it got busier and busier. It was great seeing some of my heroes there, elite British triathletes like Jodie Swallow, Simon Lessing, Annie Emerson and Spencer Smith

I continued dipping in and out of triathlon over the years, the training kept me in good stead. But it was swimming, particularly open water, which I most enjoyed.