A man attempting an epic 80-mile (128 kilometer) swim across Lake Michigan said he gave up on the third day after losing two batteries for a critical GPS device and ending up badly off course.
Jim Dreyer, 60, was pulled from the water last Thursday after 60 miles (96 kilometers). He said he had been swimming from Michigan to Wisconsin for hours without a GPS, relying only on a wrist compass and his reading of the sky and waves.
I feel for this guy. I’m not a swimmer but I am an ultra trail runner, regularly running 35-50 miles at a go. I am currently training for a 100 mile mountain run (we'll see how that goes).
ReplyDeleteHis comment as to his head ‘turning to mush’ fully resonates with me. Hours and hours of this kind of effort saps your energy faster than you can replace it via nutrition consumed prior to or during the event. Your cognitive abilities (reasoning, logic, awareness, etc) become dulled. Your muscles have very low, if any levels of glycogen left and they feel like tons of dead weight. You are amazed you can move them but somehow you do. Your thought process can at times be all over the place and after many hours of exertion hallucinations are not uncommon.
Finishing an event such as his attempted swim is a crapshoot, despite all the physical preparation, mental fortitude, equipment and crew support. You can align all the sunspots, pack your gear in your weirdly personal and arcane order, eat only six red gummi bears before the start and most importantly, hold your mouth just right…and still not make your distance despite being otherwise fully physically ready and capable.
Some quarters will say he failed in his attempt. Technically that is correct. He still had a great time out there giving all that he had. Many of us who engage in these types of efforts do not do it for the far-off finish line thrill (though we all do want to finish). We ‘enjoy’ the process of trying to get there. In that aspect he is a raving success.
You spelled "raving lunatic" wrong.
DeleteUncle Zip,
DeleteI have no doubt your comment was made in jest and you might even be correct. But could you please define what 'normal' athletic participation or exertion is?
For some folks, normal participation in sports doesn't include much sitting around being fat and happy, slurping canned beer watching others exert themselves with bowling, golf, football or such on the TV.
For some, normal is attempting to exceed their own limitations, self-perceived or otherwise. I myself hear from others that I shouldn't run as I do...but they have never done or tried what I attempt. How would they know what is normal? Normality is not a concept that is homogenous or consistent across humanity.
These other folks, including me want to experience pushing life experiences up to (but not crossing!!!) the thin line between being hard or stupid... a different normal.
I also failed to find the middle ground between the sofa/TV and the midnight cold rain on a long uphill trail with 20 miles to go over rough terrain and only 4 hours to time cut-off.
Yep, I can fully relate to the swimmer. People will tell him he is crazy for attempting the swim, deride him and snicker when he fails, call him conceited for trying... but they won't be anywhere around when he, early some morning, wades up onto the beach when he hopefully does complete it. He will be standing alone with his own two feet and arms (and head) that got him there. It will be a sublime moment for him that will quickly wear off as he begins to wonder what he can try next!
He could make the same claim if he swam from Menoninee to Marinette. Every Yooper knows that.
ReplyDeleteHear! Hear!
ReplyDeleteIt teaches a good lesson, when one thinks they're going a certain direction and how wrong we can so easily be, about it.
ReplyDelete