Put your money where your mouth is

Warning:  This is a whiny post.  But I need to vent.  So skip it if you don't want to be annoyed.

One thing that kinda bugs me is when swimmers alert the media about something they're training for and for some reason or another, don't actually swim.  That may be because they alerted the media prior to fully realizing the difficulty of the swim.  Difficulty in training, difficulty in hurdling all the logistics, difficulty in saving up the money needed.

Personally, I will never donate to someone who is raising money for their swim.  If they are asking for donations which link directly to a charity, that's completely different, and I'm fine with that.   It reminds me of those annoying calls from colleges I've attended.  They want me to donate for a scholarship.  Guess what?  I paid my own way through college, it drove me to excel, and not just coast.  Same thing with funding a channel swim.  If I pay for it myself, I'll train for it.  I'll take it seriously.

Last year I read up on this swimmer in Dallas who included ice baths for training for swimming the English Channel.  Yes, the Channel is cold, but ice baths in my opinion, are only good for mental training, or for training for an ice mile.  This is not cold water acclimatization training relevant to English Channel marathon swimming.  Ice baths are much colder than 50 degrees.  It's like a marathon runner training by sprinting 100 yards maybe twice a day and calling it good.  Exposure to super cold for maybe 30 minutes at a time is totally different than extensive multi-hour exposure to 60 degree water.

Did that Dallas based swimmer, Bryan Mineo swim the English Channel?  Not yet anyway.  The complete list of successful swimmers is here.  Dare to dream, but if it's a big dream, be sure you have done your homework and comprehend what it will take to complete it.  Especially if you plan to let other people know.

Reminds me of the guy in On a Clear Day.  He didn't even tell his wife or son, just his close friends who were very involved in his training.   If you talk, you better put up, or shut up.