Open Water Woman Swims Windermere

Most of you will remember that last January I had surgery on both my feet that left me being not allowed to walk, further than the kettle and back, for seven long weeks, followed by a further 6 weeks of recuperation, and trying to remember how to walk again! During this time, my son suggested I start writing a blog as a way of alleviating the boredom and frustration. Having never written anything in my life, I though why not? It’s only a journal after all; it’s unlikely anyone will be interested…
Just before I had the surgery my swim bud (Shark) and I had decided that our challenge for 2017 would be to swim the length of Windermere, that’s a massive 10.5 miles, and much further than we have swam before, and would be the most difficult swim, both physically and mentally (that’s a possible 6 hours of swimming non-stop) to date. Having said that, the surgery meant that I couldn’t even begin training again until 1st March, and that was if all went well, which left us with less than 7 months to train, from scratch, however having that goal to think about, especially during my long recovery, gave me something to focus on, and plan for.
Those of you that know me well know that when I set a challenge, there is no way I will not do it, and so, along with Shark, began a 7 month grueling, tiring, frustrating, ambitious, amazing, fun filled journey, full of highs, lows and everything in between, all documented in my little blog.
It's a year today since I got back in the pool and my love of open water swimming continues (not including the fishes or the swans) and so does my little blog. I have been amazed and overwhelmed at the amazing response I have had, with over 200,000 readers since I began writing it. Since our Windermere swim I was asked if I would consider putting last year’s journey into a book. Going from a blog to a book is something quite different, and a lot scarier, however I decided after a lot of consideration to take the plunge (no pun intended) and do it, and finally has now been published this week. How amazing (but mostly scary) is that? I hope that for those of you that read it feel inspired to not only take on difficult challenges, but also to never underestimate how far you can push yourself to achieve what you set out to do.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Open-Water-Woman-Swims-Windermere-ebook/dp/B079ZB1775/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520196854&sr=8-1&keywords=jacqui+Hargrave