My English Channel Swim: Jellyfish and Lights in the Distance.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-08/my-english-channel-swim-jellyfish-and-lights-in-the-distance.html

Millions of people travel toFrance from Britain every year. Only about a hundred of them swim.

After 10 days of waiting for the right weather, I stepped onto the rocky beach of Samphire Hoe,England, at about 2 p.m. on July 29 to start the 21-mile (34-kilometer) crossing of the world’s busiest shipping lane. At 46, I was following pioneers Captain Matthew Webb and Gertrude Ederle, two of the fewer than 1,500 people who have completed the swim since 1875.

On board the Viking Princess, a fishing boat I booked last year to escort me, were my coach Tim Denyer, two teammates and an observer from the Channel Swimming Association who would ensure that I reached the French shore without assistance.

I was prepared for hours of swimming, and concentrated on making it to the next “feed:” Every 45 minutes, Tim would toss down a warm carbohydrate drink in a plastic bottle attached to a float. The variety was good, if all the flavors weren’t: berry, chocolate Ovaltine, soothing ginger and flat cola, my least favorite.

We tried to keep the feeding stops to 30 seconds, which the crew used to evaluate my physical and mental state. Like a potty-training toddler, I gleefully told them every time I urinated and was greeted with much approval. This meant my body was still functioning and processing the nutrition.

After two years of intensive training -- including more than 230 miles, more than 3,500 laps of an Olympic pool, since March -- I felt pretty relaxed in the first few hours, settling into 58 to 60 strokes per minute.

As a Channel swimmer, I’m part of a group smaller than the 4,000 climbers who have reached the summit of Mount Everest. My time of 13 hours and 50 minutes is close to the average of about 14 hours last year, based on statistics compiled by the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation.