It’s the day before race day. I have raised $1765 at the time of writing, thanks to my amazingly, astoundingly generous friends, colleagues and well-wishers. At the beginning it was the fundraising I was most nervous about, and this has far exceeded my fundraising goal. I can’t express how grateful I am to everyone who has sponsored me so far; thank you for supporting me and for your contribution to Cure Cancer Australia.
When I began training, I was expecting to swim in the 2km Cole Classic. However, after a few weeks of training and exceeding my expectations as to my progress, I changed my goal swim to the 2.7km Macquarie Big Swim. The Big Swim kicks off at 10am tomorrow.
Last Sunday, I was involved in a T-bone car crash. A car pulled out of a driveway in front of me as I was driving at speed along a main road and with nowhere to go, I slammed on the brakes but still hit the other car with enough force to write off my dear little Honda and cause a jolt to my upper body that, combined with my existing spinal injury, left me in enough pain to warrant a ride in an ambulance, to be on the cautious side. Fortunately, I have no major injuries (and as far as I know neither does the other driver nor her passenger), but my back, neck and arms are still very stiff and sore.
On top of that, I’ve managed to come down with mild tonsillitis, which I’m on antibiotics for.
I am still going to be there at the starting line tomorrow, and will be resting up and taking medication to be in the best possible condition for my goal swim. However, realistically, I might not be able to complete the race. There will be lifeguards positioned all along the course, so if I can’t make it I will be in safe hands.
I am so frustrated because I know that a week ago I would have made this swim fairly easily, and to have these setbacks at the last minute, particularly when I have had so much support from my sponsors, just seems so incredibly unfair. However, as we all know, these things happen, and I will be doing my best to stay the course if I’m physically able!
Best wishes Alice. If nothing else, you’ve raised a lot of money and done quite a lot of intense training — but I’m sure you’ll do a good job at the actual swimming portion, too. Your muscles will move on bloody-minded determination.
If bloody-mindedness can get me through, it will. But training today was very hard for me, and I was pretty knocked out afterwards, so it might just be beyond what’s possible. However, I have a lot of drugs, and I’m as stubborn as the proverbial mule, so I think my chances are as good as can be hoped for!
Lucky you did the Roughwater eh? Or we’d need our money back, cancer patients be damned.
But seriously, I remember feeling like this before the 2008 City2Surf when I lost one of the big training weeks to some viral thing. So frustrating! Good luck with however much of the swim you can manage.
Good luck with it Alice. It sucks that you’ve had all this crap to deal with over the last week.
I guess you’re aware of that though.
Rock on Alice! We all know you’re gonna blitz it. And even if you don’t, we’re proud of you anyway.
Be careful
Competing while sick is not ideal, and of course, once you’re in the water it could becomes dangerous if you push yourself.
But most importantly, enjoy the day!
Yeah. I am on that fine line between not wanting to just cop out after all these months of training, and not wanting to put myself in danger or be a hassle for the lifeguards. Bummer of a call to have to make.
Oh and more importantly, not miss out on doing something I love!
I don’t think you would have been a hassle for the lifeguards, I imagine they are like soldiers in that they want to use their training.
And it would be miserable not to have given it a go.
Very glad it all went well!!
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