Swimathon : Attempting My First Mile of Front Crawl

During one of my more recent swimming lessons, after a bit of chat about whether I race, my instructor drew my attention to a large banner at the side of the pool. "Are you entered?" Um, no, what is it?

The banner in question was advertising Swimathon, a nationwide swimming event that encourages people to challenge themselves whilst also raising funds for Marie Curie. You can choose to take part as an individual over distances of 1.5k, 2.5km or 5k challenges or as part of a team for 1.5k and 5k distances.

I was interested. I picked up a leaflet. I found I was free on the weekend in question (mostly). I wasn't able to take part in the Great London Swim this year. This felt like a Good Thing To Do. The difficult part was choosing the distance. I can happily swim a mile of breaststroke so maybe the 2.5k would be a good step up. Or perhaps use this as an opportunity to see if I can swim more than 6 lengths of front crawl? Utterly paralyzed by indecision I had Rach basically decide for me. Which is how come I'm entered into the 1.5k distance under instruction that it's to be all front crawl, with breaks if necessary. 

Frankly what ever I'd chosen to do would have been good practice for later in the year when I tackle my first aquathlon and Standard distance triathlon but here we are. I've no idea how I'm going to manage it but I will, somehow.

The event is incredibly reasonably priced, just £12 for an individual, which includes a medal if you complete your distance and I've heard that it's usually very well organised. I'm a bit excited and have extra incentive to get to the pool between lessons!