After a extremely long flight with zero sleep and a cramped neck, we landed in London to meet up with Dave and Rachel since their flights had landed around the same time. And what a cool little harbor town that rests beneath Dover Castle which is intimidating but magnificent to look at. I even caught myself staring at it so many times as we walked through the streets of the town. But going back to when we arrived we spent no more than a few minutes to place our things inside the Churchill House which is a little BnB that we are staying at for our entire trip.
So we met up with Todd Erickson and his wife Nancy for our first group swim and man⦠it was choppy and rough to say the least. Getting into the water was a challenge since the entire beach was covered in painful rocks. Once I got in the water, it was still a cold water shock as we have to wear just our suits, one cap , and earplugs but we adjusted quickly to start our swim. The scenery was incredible overlooking Dover and the Castle up on the hill with the Channel off in the horizon.
I caught my dad with a huge smile and infectious laughter since after all⦠we were still in disbelief that we are getting to experience this very moment. I know I will never forget that moment in time and there are many more that I am grateful to have during this trip.
The walk to our first early morning swim was a practice of extreme discipline for me since the entire walk down was stormy , windy, and rainy so I knew it was going to be rough out there. To my amazement, there were only a handful of regular swimmers normally theres over a waiting to go in. And I proceeded to just dive in a carry on with my swim. After the perfect storm practice, Dave had us swim again and again everyday, twice a day, if we could fit it in between Rachel and my jet lag comas that followed our training, it was GOING to happen.
August 13th, CoachMandyMcDougal.
