looking for a new year challenge?

Remember about six months ago I challenged myself to swim the equivalent of the Channel in six months?  Well, I failed (as you know) but I'm being all Robert the Bruce about it and am going to try, try, try again.  I even treated myself to a lap counter (pictured above) which I am predicting will be the best £10 ever spent as swim time will become thinking time instead of counting time.  Multitasking to the max!

So I'm starting this challenge now and am aiming to swim the "Channel" by the end of June.  I've worked out the Channel is the equivalent of 1360 lengths in a 25 metre pool.  Leaving myself a few spare days at the start of January (realistically I know I won't be getting anywhere near the pool until the 5th at the very earliest) and a few days at the end of June to squeeze in any last-minute emergency lengths, this works out at just over 50 lengths a week, 54.4 to be exact!  I'm going to update the blog with my progress each Sunday (give or take) in a dedicated Swim Sunday post in the hope that this will keep me on the straight and narrow.  I've worked out how many lengths I should have achieved by each Sunday between now and June, working on the basis of swimming an equal amount each week (which I know won't be the case) so I can see how I'm getting on throughout.

Anyway, I just wanted to ask whether anyone fancied joining in this time?  My sister, Kerry, and her friend Anest are both going to give it a go and I'm recruiting you, Caihsnah, since you already have a lap counter!  Ha!  So that's four of us so far.  I'm thinking the more the merrier really, although anyone who starts putting us doggy-paddlers to shame will, of course, be "promoted" to swimming the ACTUAL Channel! ;)  My thinking was that anyone who felt it would help them to keep going could leave a comment on my Swim Sunday posts to tell us about their progress or whatever, but of course you could also join in anonymously if that suited you better.

P.S. Happy New Year!