Proud to know them

One of the amazing things about the folks I swim with every weekend, the Notorious Alki Swimmers, is the diversity of skill sets and interests among us.

And yet we all love swimming in the Sound.

Three of these swimmers earned the title "Notorious" in the past week with amazing feats of endurance swimming. I am so proud to know them.

First, Melissa. Melissa swam the English Channel.  Yes. That is right.  She did this:

That's 41 MILES of swimming, in just under 17 hours. Seriously, that is a distance most people don't want to DRIVE. And she did it all, according to Channel Rules, with just a swimsuit, cap, and goggles, and with no forward motion help from her escort boat.

I watched her progress on her on-line tracker the whole way, and was cheering for her at every step.  Go read her blog post, she can describe it better than I can.  But let's just say she rocks.

Then there is Jerome and Lauren.  Jerome and Lauren swam 10.5 miles from Bremmerton to West Seattle. Jerome is the first man to complete this historic route, created by Amy Hiland in 1959. Only three women, other than Amy (and including Lauren) have completed this swim.

I was delighted to be at Alki for the end of Jerome and Lauren's swim.

And here's the thing about all three of these superstars.  They are kind, down-to-earth folks.  They support all the other swimmers and don't let their super powers go to their heads.  I'm really honored and proud to know all three of them.