After competing in triathlons for 9 years, I decided it was time to try something different. In the back of my mind I had always had this idea that I would try to swim the English Channel some day. Now, after almost 2 years of distance swimming training, that day is almost here!

Plot of my course

Monday, September 8, 2008

The press

Not a lot to report today. I ate a ton of food, drank a bunch of weight gain drink and swam an easy 3 miles at lunch. The swim crowd at the Hartsville YMCA has really grown in the last several months. I remember many days of training where I was the only one in the pool. Just me and a really bored lifeguard watching me go back and forth. Today I think there were about 10 people going up and down the lanes.

As people have found out I am doing this, the folks who work for the papers in our community have also caught wind. So today I did an interview with reporters from the Florence Morning News and the Hartsville Messenger. Photo shoots at the pool and an interview with Darlington's News and Press are scheduled for the next two days. I didn't want the attention but in the end I decided to do the interviews (and this blog) as I figured if it was one of my friends, I would want to know. Also, the added pressure will motivate me. I sure don't want to fail knowing so many people are watching!

Finally, I received a bunch of e-mails from people wishing me well after I sent out the blog link. That made me feel great! I really appreciate everyone's kind words.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Allan,
Yea it is pretty boring watching you swim back and forth. haha But hey when you complete the channel I can say I was the lifeguard that watched over your life for lots of training back in Hartsville. Well Good Luck and have a Safe Trip!

Tamara (aka the bored lifeguard) =)

Allan McLeland said...

Thanks Tamara for keeping me safe and watching me plod along all those laps. I'm surprised you didn't fall out of that chair as watching me must have been like watching a metronome go back and forth. Or grass grow.