Yep, as I was thinking about showing you a map of her route I realised that I had forgot to ask michelle where on the island she’d be starting from and where she’d be landing!

So I though check back throught her posts may be she did it already, nope. Then I though hmmmm lets check the offcial site.. nada nothing there as to mostly likely route used.

So we will assume that she is starting from the nearest possible point from the island to the main land

Anyway while I go off and congitate on that particular problem , for a couple of hours at the gym, and the US peeps get some much deserved sleep, I shall hopefully have some news to report back to you guys on my return . Sleep tight America …. well apart from michelle and the boat crew as that could be tad dangerous to say the least!.

UK People, get out and go to work jeeze

Well guess what, she’s already off faster than we expected   first email from Katie

Katie  – “We are getting set. Michelle is about to get in. She is all set just a little nervous. It is a great night light breeze and a little swell.”

This was followed litterally a minute late or so by :

Katie - ” We got the official horn and she is off. 11:22 start.”

Best of british little lady, and to her friends once again, any messages or encouragement , will be passed on to her.

 Well hello once again

To those new to following Michelles swimming expolites , my name is Leroy.  I’m her friend with the terrible spelling from the UK

It have voluteered to yet again keep , all the many many friends she has made around the world up to date with the progress of yet another of her amazing swimming feats.

I will be posting up the emails that I recieve from Katie when they arrive on the site, and I will endevour to pass on any messages of encouragement you have to the little lady as it does really help, when she is going though the difficult parts of the swim.

However for those not on the alreat list for this site when it updates, if it does not update for more than couple of hours it does not mean that anything has happened to her , it means either I’ve gone to the gym or that katie has not emailed due to helping with feedings etc   I was told that last time I stepped away while reporting during her channel swim , everyone thought something had happened to her

Now hopefully I have my timings right and if all is going to shedule, they should be about 40 mins from the kick off

So hopefully next post will be first contact from Katie.

Leroy

PS Oh yeah , Michelle as told me in one of our conversations that she expects to do this in around 12 hours ,for the old hands who know her when doing this, knock off an hour

I have been spending the last few days catching up with friends and family in Southern California before the Catalina Channel swim. On our first day, it appears that we brought the rain with us from Oregon, but shortly there after the sun came out and the weather has been beautiful. Unfortunately I don’t know if beautiful weather equals good swimming weather out in the channel.

It has been nice to relax and enjoy the weekend. Today the last of my crew members rolls into town and I’ll be spending most of the day lounging around and eating. I’m guessing that pasta will be in the mix somewhere.

The next time you all hear something it will be from Leroy. Send all your comments as they are a great help as I swim.

Well I guess one good thing about jury duty is that it gives me a chance to catch up on my blog.  Thankfully the jury assembly room that I’m currently sitting in has free wi-fi.  There were apparently 2 trials on the docket today.  One has already been released so I’m just sitting here waiting to see if I will be needed for the second.  I have already fulfilled my city civil duty and now I’m fulfilling my county civil duty.  I don’t know what list I got on but I have never been called for this much jury duty since turning 18.  I know I should feel honored to be selected but I can’t help thinking that I haven’t yet packed for my Catalina Channel swim and I leave very early tomorrow morning.  Yikes!

Speaking of Catalina Channel.  I will be swimming on Monday night/Tuesday morning.  I have convinced Leroy to update my blog again, so if you want to follow the swim please stay tuned to this station.   Leroy has also promised to notify everyone if he steps away this time as I don’t know how many people mentioned that they thought I was injured in the Channel as they hadn’t gotten an update in 2-3 hours.  Be kind to Leroy, I sure don’t expect him to sit as his computer for 12 hours waiting for updates.   He is a great guy that is doing me a huge favor in keeping everyone updated, so be nice….and ignore his terrible spelling

My crew this time is Jane Barry, Cathy McElevey, Jon Clark, Jeff Rodgers and Katie Schwarz.  Katie, my sister, will be relaying the messages over to Leroy in the UK where he will then update anyone who happens to be watching.  The swim is going to start around 11:59pm on Monday night.  My goal is to be finished around 12pm on Tuesday afternoon.  That is about 12 hours of swimming.  I will have to hurry this time as we are all on planes back home on Tuesday evening.  I think this is the crazy part rather than the 21 miles across the Channel.  Or perhaps the really crazy part is for some reason I didn’t take off work on Wednesday.  Oh well I wasn’t much for planning on that one. 

Jane and I are headed down tomorrow morning to visit one of our friends in Oceanside.  It will be good to catch up, gorge myself on food and just relax a few days before the swim.

I have been lucky enough to be assigned an observer whom I already know.  Claudia Rose will be observing the swim.  Now Claudia has a knack for calling wildlife to her during swims as she is a successful open water swimmer in her own right.  I’ve already explained that any mammal sea life is just fine with me, but all others can stay very far away.  She mentioned that she will do her best.  I keep reminding poeple “Ixnay on the arkshay” talk. 

Besides the “arkshays” which really is a very minimal factor but seems huge in my mind, there will be the darkness factor.  This is going to be my first real night swim.  Don’t worry I’ve done practice swims in the dark, but this is the first long night swim.  My goal is to get myself to relax into it and not get all worked up about the “monsters under the bed” so to speak.  As usual, I’m sure that Jane will keep me focused and the others will keep me distracted.  That is all that I need to really succeed.

That’s about all I got at this time.  I feel good and ready for the swim.  The left shoulder is acting up just a bit, but I think it is doing it to remind me that it is there.   Once this swim is completed I will have the triple crown down i.e. English Channel, Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, and Catalina Channel.

Well the 2008 swim season is coming quickly to a close ending with Monday night’s Catalina Channel swim. I wanted to provide an update on the $50,000 goal for the Masonic Cancer Center of Minnesota to find a cure for breast cancer. We are well on our way to making a difference and I’m committed to these crazy swims until we all reach $50,000. To date we are at $5,100 with everyone’s donations and company match programs. This is a huge accomplishment and thank you to all of you that donated.

I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Douglas Yee and the wonderful staff of the Cancer Center as well as the Minnesota Medical Foundation. It was a great experience and I know that we are helping the cause. In fact, in these past few weeks the FDA has approved the breast cancer vaccination for human clinical tests. It is odd that this occurred almost one year to the date of my Channel swim and 10 years from the date that I worked in Dr. Jeffery Miller’s lab working on this same breast cancer vaccination.

To learn more about the Masonic Cancer Center of Minnesota and the great strides they are making in breast cancer and cancer research visit. http://www.cancer.umn.edu/

If you wish to make a donation, please see how on my donation page.  http://macyswim.com/donations/