Ullswater Epic Mile Swim

Sunday 14th July was upon me and after a good breakfast of scrambled egg and whole meal toast we ste off to Glenrididng, where the race would be held. Man and his kids came too, as did Mhairi's family (we opted to leave the dogs at home!  Don't think it would have gone down too well with Flirt following me around the course...)

Friends Will and Jill came to picnic and watch too, as did my sister Claire and nephew Oliver who had camped locally the night before. The kids soon stripped off and headed into the lake to paddle - the weather was perfect. Bright sun, blue skies, and not a ripple on the lake. There was already a party atmostphere, and we arrived just as the 3.8km race was finishing.

We went to register and disappointingly realised that as there were 400 nearly in our event, we had been put into seperate waves - there were 3 in total for the mile. Mhairi would go off first, with me in the second one closing after. After my initial sulk, I realised that realistically we wouldn't be able to swim together anyway, so I manned up!

Before race

Wetsuits were donned, half way up, and we headed over to the start/finish line for our briefing. I rutched myself into my wetsuit, put my shiny green race hat on, and inched my way one-by-one into the race pen. The water was so warm, you almost didn't need a wetsuit on. I gave Mhairi a hug and we wished each other good luck, and got into our wave positions. The organiser then started us off with a rendition of God Save the Queen, which could be heard all over the lake someone later told me, and the hooter went and we were off. My wave set off about 20 seconds after the first one, and I was launched headfirst into a cauldron of arms, legs, heads, hands, feet. Man - it was madness! I eventually found myself a bit of clear water and went for it, and gradually inched my way through the maddening crowd!

The first buoy was at the opposite shore, and we turned right and swam past the cows on the shore. By the time I had turned at the second buoy and started my way down the long length (think of a rectangle) I was feeling great, and had got into my rhythm. I had overtaken a lot of green caps, and none had overtaken me so far, and as I looked ahead, all I could see were pink caps from the first wave. There were some nice boats moored up, I can remember thinking!

When I reached the bottom of the straight, my arms were starting to burn, and I had had a peek to see where the finish was - not so far! As I rounded the buoy a green cap got in my way and tried to swim over the top of me! I wasn't happy - so i sped up and we ended up having a sprint finish together to the finish. It was a man (of course) and by the time I got myself upright in the shallows and my legs stopped wobbling, he had finished. I made it up the gantry and over the line, and saw my two boys and my sister and nephew. I'm not ashamed to admit I did have a little cry. I thought of my mum all around the race, and how proud she would be of me - and do you know what, i could have got in the water and done it all again if she'd asked me to.

The finish line

Back at base camp, man was there - he didn't come and support me over the line of course, and Will had a nice cold beer waiting for me. Some people are more considerate than others!

I stripped out of my wetsuit and dove in the lake - heaven! I got my breath back, had a bit of a picnic, then went home and had a good old session with friends in the pub!

The changing room!

Thank you to all my friends and family who have supported and sponsored me throughout my Wannabe Wild Swimmer adventure (not including Man here, had he has done neither), and a special thank you to Mhairi - I have enjoyed every minute, thank you for being there for me.

Just under £600 raised for the Stroke Association - job well done.

Can't wait for next year!