Swimming Upstream With Diana Nyad

Have you people heard about this woman?

Her name is Diana Nyad. I first knew of her after I read a fascinating article about her in The New York Times a couple years back. Miss Diana is now 64 years old, and this week, after 35 years of pursuit, she swam from Havana, Cuba, to Key West, Florida. I’m talking 52 hours and 54 minutes, only stopping for nourishment. I’m talking 110 miles.

Did I mention she was not in a PLANE or on a CRUISE SHIP but that she was SWIMMING?

Have you ever swum non-stop for 30 minutes? You know that lung burn? Well, multiply that for about a gazillion minutes, add salt water, dehydration and general crazytown, and we’ll be about halfway to how Nyad must have been feeling.

Please note her swollen lips. And the absence of a lido deck. And note the stunned and clapping Average Humans looking on in shock. The guy in the life vest (!) is thinking, “Dang! And the most impressive thing I did today was floss!” I can identify.

Photo by abc.com

I feel the need to point out that Ms. Nyad was the first person to accomplish this swim WITHOUT A SHARK CAGE. Time to let that one sink in…..And she wore the mask above and a full body suit and booties during the night to protect herself from jellyfish attacks. And another moment to absorb that tidbit…..

Did I mention I flossed today?

This woman rocks. She first became famous for swimming around Manhattan, a thought that makes me a little queasy, considering the summertime smell of Manhattan and what might be washing into the waters around it. But swim she did and three decades after her first attempt at the Cuba-Florida route, she made it.

I am so tired from writing this very short blog post, I need to take a few days off from flossing. Maybe don’t wait for my shark-cage record-breaking. But I do own goggles!

Woot-woot-to-the-64th-power, Diana Nyad! Now go eat some pizza and take a nap!