Sponsored Swim

Well I know I said I'd keep on top of my posts but I do have an excuse for my lack of writing..........I've been training hard for our Sponsored Swim!

My best friend and I are doing a sponsored swim, raising money for The MS Society and The British Heart Foundation - Two charities that are very close to our hearts!
We are using a friends swimming pool, which is a fantastic pool and we are swimming a mile between us, which is 60 lengths of the pool each! 

It really amazes me when I actually think about it! 

We only started training for this at the beginning of last September, so when we've completed the swim it will be eight months in total. And when we started training we struggled to swim 6 lengths at a time and now we are swimming ten lots of six lengths!
That is how we are doing it. I knew I couldn't swim sixty lengths without stopping, so we sorted out a way that we could do it where we could both have a break.
We start off by doing ten widths as a warm up. Then Joe starts and she swims six lengths. She'll then stop and I will swim six lengths and we do this ten times each........easy!! ;-)
Of course it sounds so easy eh?
But that's the thing, when we were sorting out what and how we were going to do the swim, talking about it, it sounded quite easy! But it really is mind blowing when we get to the end of sixty lengths and we realise that we've both just swum half a mile each!

I have always loved swimming but it means even more to me now, especially as my legs don't work in the pool. Just being in the pool gives me a real sense of freedom. I know it is a great form of all over exercise but for me I am free, I don't need to use crutches and I feel like I can do anything while I'm in there.....it's when I get out that it hits me! 
And boy do I feel it! But there is a bigger sense of achievement though. 
It has almost become a bit of an addiction......I don't like it if I have to miss a session for any reason!
I generally try and go twice a week but that is my limit. My recovery time is such that I can't go any more than twice a week..........but that's OK! ;-)

And it won't stop once we've completed the sponsored swim. I have been told to tone it down for a couple of months afterwards and just enjoy swimming rather than pushing myself every session! 
I will do that because apart from anything, it'll show me just how far I've come. We have already started thinking about what we're going to do next year! 
We were hoping that this event would be a success because we want the sponsored swim to become an annual charity fundraiser and I think I can say that it is going to be a success!!
 
But to this year's event.......if you would like to sponsor us or read a bit more about why either of us are doing this then head over to our fund raising page

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AmeliaSouthard 

Thank you so much for those of you who have generously donated already, it means a huge amount to Joe and I and of course to the charities!

I will keep you updated with how it all goes......I hope everyone had a lovely Easter, even if it was a tad chilly! 

Best wishes
XxXxX