A forced smile at the end?!

The harbour & me in the distance, the dot, not the man!!!

Surely that ferry would be quicker, easier & cheaper!!!

Well. At least the six hour qualifier is out the way. With approximately 4/5 weeks to go I am glad that it's out the way. I can honestly say that I enjoyed the swim. Mark and I arrived in Dover on the Friday evening and went for a HUGE carbohydrate based meal in preperation for the morning. Bed at 8.30 & awake at 7 followed by a big bowl of porridge, I was then ready for the job! The weather was good.... not sunny but not raining! The wind was rather strong but nothing inhibiting. I got in at 9am after being appropriately greased up and briefed as to what time to come back into the shore for my 'feeds' of warm maxim energy drink. The first stint was 2 hours, during which Graeme Schlachter kindly accompanied me (Graeme completed the Channel last year in a fantastic time of 11hrs 45mins and we have since got in touch because of having one big thing in common, being Zimbabwean!). It was great to have company, even though you can't really talk, it's nice to see a face next to you every time you breath! From then on it was one feed every hour, which Graeme kindly made sure was ready for me on arrival...... along with a mini roll & ibuprofen at one point! The good thing is that I wasn't really exhausted at the end, nor was I cold. My only concern is the shoulder pain which I have had in the past returned after a couple of hours. But I am now working on this with pain killers & physio so it should be fine!...... I had a good HALF a lager to celebrate and was in bed for 8.30 again!!!

Mark's original plan was a trip to France while I swam, however, he was devastated that this trip to get 'provisions' had to be abandoned because he had forgotten his passport!

I have two / three more long swims planned before the big onr. I will be up in Windermere on the 4th July, with Mark, Danielle & Jason to crew for me and I hope to do a good, long swim up there - at least another 6hrs. The plan is to go back down to Dover mid July to take part in one of the infamous training weekends and do a long swim on both the Saturday & Sunday. We will have the boys with us this time so hopefully the weather is good and it won't be too hard for Mark to keep them happy for all that time! He may even be able to nip to France, providing he doesn't forget his passport this time!

Thanks again for all your support...... Nearly there now. Jax X

May / June update!...

Sorry it's been a bit quiet on the update front, but that should be a good sign as most of my time has been spent training! As you will see from the picture I have attached I will be having a casual gathering at the local pub in Chapel-en-le-Frith to draw my raffle and to get myself psyched up for the last 6 / 7 weeks of training!

May was good. I spent my birthday trudging up and down a very 'reedy' lake near Danielles home in Bedford, while she very kindly dragged herself out of bed at 7am to watch the boys for me. I have spend nearly every Sunday at the Albert Dock where the jelly fish are out in force this year! I'm getting in my full quota of 2hrs there and it's now about 16 degree's on average. I competed in the Ivan Percival 4 mile race which I did in 1hr 27mins... I was really pleased with this because last year I did my 4 mile race in 1hr 48mins. I came 4th out of the woman, and fourth overall!!! - The women really do rule in this sport!

Thursdays are spent at Boundary Water Park in Knutsford. Water temperatures are rising slowly (which isn't necessarily a good thing as I need it to be about 15 to prepare myself for the Channel). I did 2hrs in the River Dee last Wednesday which was frreeezing, but really good practise as there was quite a strong current..... it took 20mins less to swim downstream that it did to swim upstream! Tomorrow, Sunday 13th, I will be going to Blackpool to swim in the sea. I am going to try and get a 3/4hr swim in which should prepare me for my trip down to Dover next weekend. I am hoping to get my 6 hour qualifier done there (weather permitting) however, I SHOULD do it! After that the next task is Windermere at the beginning of July. Again I want / need to do at least a 6 hour swim there. So at the moment, it's go go go..... when I'm not outdoors swimming I'm indoors trying to build up speed & endurance....

Thanks again to everyone who has supported me, I hope I can make you all proud! More pictures to be posted next week!...... Bye for now, Jax X