Holy Moly!

Truly amazing. That's what I said when I saw the headlines "First American Woman to Swim the Atlantic". But it was even more amazing when I saw that I KNEW the woman in the picture - Jennifer Figge.

Kurt and I met Figge way back in the early 90's on the bus to the Las Vegas Marathon starting line. She was walking up and down the bus aisle waving her magic wand saying "PR's for you and you and you...." She was very charismatic - someone you never forget. We laughed the entire time we were in her presence.

At the time, she was trying to run across every country (yes, every country) and when we got home, she mailed us a picture of her running across some God-forsaken middle-eastern country that I had never heard of.....with a big smile on her face.

Then a few years later, she told Kurt that she had developed osteoporosis and couldn't run anymore. She switched to swimming. She sent us a picture of her walking out of a mountain lake with a full wet-suit on (including her head) and smiling a big smile.

I remember being in total awe of her (but that was back when I could not even imagine swimming across Windsor Lake, let alone the Atlantic ocean).

Since then, she has swum across the Straits of Gibraltar, from Tahiti to Moorea, from Turkey to Greece, across the Cozumel Channel, in Sydney Harbor, and 52 miles from Cay Sal Bank in the Bahamas to Marathon in the Keys. Amazing....

Speaking of swimming, I actually did that this morning. Had a busy morning planned so got my butt down to the Rec Center at 6:20 this AM. Only swam for 30 mins but that is all that I can do right now.

Actually, this was kind of a cathartic swim. My kids were fighting a lot this weekend and after putting out fires all day long, I blew up at them. Totally exploded. It sounds funny now but it wasn't at the time. Although I had every reason to be angry, I don't feel good about yelling at my kids. I went to bed feeling like a horrible parent. My head is still reeling from all the drama.

The one good thing about endurance activity is the stress-relief it provides. Running, biking, swimming, whatever...it gives you time to calm down and process whatever it is that's bugging you. I needed that so much this morning that I actually looked forward to swimming. And that's a first!

Maybe Figge's magic wand really did work. I may not get a PR in anything but I sure got some good karma from her today.