Ocean Swim Fiji – my imperfect preparation

A week from now I will be boarding a plane to Fiji. Without children. Sounds pretty awesome doesn’t it!

A few weeks ago I won a prize through New Zealand Herald Travel to take part in the inaugural Ocean Swim Fiji event. The ironic thing is that reason I won is also exactly the reason I need to keep a sense of imperfection about my preparation and participation.

I had to write WHY I deserved to win. Waiheke Island (where I live) does not have a public swimming pool which means that my children travel every Friday afternoon to the city, be ferry, for swimming lessons. It is a 3 hour round trip for a 30 minute swim lesson!  It also means that I am having to brave the icy winter ocean to be fit enough to go to Fiji.

By “fit enough” I simply mean able to swim 1km well enough to take part. I don’t expect to be fast because I am only managing to get in the ocean once a week. I find that challenging though because I love to give everything my best.

This is where my favourite saying becomes so important to me.

I could be upset or frustrated that I can’t train the way I would like to for this amazing event but that would just ruin the experience. Instead I choose to focus on the gift I have received, being flown to Fiji for 4 nights to do something I really love … ocean swim! This isn’t about being my best, it is about having an amazing yet imperfect experience.

I have decided to give myself a challenge while I am there. There are three days of races and each day there is a 1km or 3 km option. I have NEVER swum 3km in my whole life … even in the middle of summer when I am swim fit! But swimming 1km doesn’t feel very challenging to me as I can swim that easily now in the middle of winter. So I have decided I will swim 1km each day for the first two races and then on the final day, if I have been feeling good, I am going to be brave and give the 3km a go. I don’t have to be fast, I just have to keep swimming!

I will be sure to be give updates via Facebook & Instagram while I am there so if you are keen to follow along that is the best place to find me. I am not taking my laptop so there will be no blog posts or newsletters written while I am away, you will have to be more patient for those updates.

Wish me luck … I am going to need it!