On Tuesday, 3 September, Diana Nyad completed her Xtrme
Dream, a 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. This was her
fifth attempt. She is 64. When she got out of the water after 53 hours she had
three things to say about her Xtreme Dream:
Never give up. You are never too old to realise your dream.
Swimming is not a solitary sport but a team effort.
Inspirational stuff that many swimmers will relate to. I certainly can.
I followed Diana’s progress in 2012 during her fourth
attempt and shed a few tears when she had to abandon. On her fifth attempt I
followed her progress again, checking twitter and her webpage every hour, sending
her good luck thoughts across the webosphere. Her success affected me greatly
and tears of happiness were shed this time. That evening we cracked open a
bottle of champagne to celebrate her victory.
The event evoked so much emotion in me and in others worldwide.
Why is this? Her success represents
triumph over adversity. It refutes the proposition that our capacities
inevitably decline of age. And we want to experience the euphoria that such a great
achievement must bring.
So, the dream. I want a goal, I want to overcome a challenge
and I want that euphoria that comes from success. Like Diana (and Bob Dylan) I
want to ‘feel forever young.’
But I think my dream might be extreme with a small x. I have
thought about doable dreams but unlike Diana I have a couple of constraints.
First, I am not a champion swimmer and second I can’t squander all our
superannuation on my dream. So, no costly boat escorted English Channel or
Rottnest swims for me.
I’m still looking but I think an open-water marathon (10 km)
fits the bill. I’ll do this next year in the UK. I’m thinking the Dart 10K looks as though it
has my dream ticket on it. But every
dream needs preparation so my next little dream is a 5-km swim. It may seem
small potatoes but I haven’t done a 5-km open water swim yet. I see the Berry
Rickards, Penrith, has a 5km event coming up. Modest, but my dream has begun, Thank
you Diana!
