Next month, I will
join my best friend from college and about 650 other people in swimming
4.4 miles across the Chesapeake Bay. It will be my second crossing near
Annapolis, but this is the first time I am participating in the event’s
charitable program.
Since 1992, The Great Chesapeake Bay Swim has donated
more than $1 million to Maryland-based charities, with the March of Dimes receiving
the most money. It is my goal to raise at least $300 in donations over the next
five weeks, doing my part to boost the amount distributed to the many
worthwhile organizations the swim aims to help.
I last completed this
swim in 2010, finishing middle-of-the-pack. I wrote about that day here.
Last time, while I swam, I thought a lot about my dad, who doesn’t swim but
shares my love for the water. This time, in those couple of hours under the bridge,
I expect to think about friends old and new.
I am so pleased to
share this experience with my college teammate, who will bring her two sons from
Colorado to meet my boys that weekend. And I am so inspired by the many people
I have met and worked with in the past year through my job teaching and
coaching swimming. I am in awe of the adults who come to the pool and start
with learning to float, kick, stroke and finally breathe. I am motivated by the
people who are new to competitive swimming and work hard every Masters
practice. The determination and enthusiasm I witness now every day will keep me
moving across the bay.
If I make my fund-raising
goal, I will have the added bonus of bypassing the lottery entry-process for
next year’s swim and earn an automatic spot. We’ll see how it all goes, though.
If there is chop, or jellyfish, or flotsam and jetsam … maybe next year, I can convince
my friend that a simple girls’ weekend is the way to go.
Hey, now there’s an
idea….
But in the meantime,
June 8 is the day. If you would like to donate to the charitable arm of The Great
Chesapeake Bay Swim, please send me a note, and I will direct you further.
There are no online donations, so this is done the old-fashioned way – by mail.
All donations are tax-deductible.
Thanks for reading,
and thank you in advance for your support.
