This is a photo showing the course of the attempts Diana Nyad made to swim from the coast of Cuba to the shore of Florida. It's over 100 miles. She tried 5 times over 33 years. Here's just a small list of obstacles she had to overcome:
- Lightening Storms
- Dehydration
- Sharks
- 11 (that I can tell from my research) jellyfish and Portuguese man-of-war stings. One sting from one of the most deadliest creature in the WORLD can kill someone in 2-3 minutes. She survived ELEVEN stings. AND.KEPT.SWIMMING
- Hypothermia
- Fatigue
- Allergies & Asthma
- Wind
- Shoulder pain
- Strong OCEAN currents
- Swollen lips and tongue from a protective mask
- Resistance from her team to 'give up the obsession of Cuba and try the swim somewhere else more safe'
- And countless others that I can't even imagine
And on September 2, 2013 at 153pm, after swimming 52 Hours 54 Minutes 18.6 Seconds and 110.4 statue miles, swimming a "distance not ever having been close to achieved by any other human being before", she completed her goal.
At age 64.
Thanks to my friend, Meg, and sharing the swim's progress on Facebook, I first heard of Diana Nyad on that day in September when she was swimming her latest attempt. I didn't understand the significance of this swim until I saw her interviews on Super Soul Sunday and her documentary "The Other Shore: The Diana Nyad Story". Unbelievable journey. You can read her blog at www.diananyad.com.
Ever since I finished the documentary, every time I don't want to get on the treadmill to exercise, or do some other mundane task, I think to myself,
"Diana swam 110 miles. At age 64. What is YOUR excuse now?"
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