This isn’t just a desperate plea for friends to go down the pub with*.
There’s an event on May 2nd – 3rd next year that I’m really keen to enter, but before I can I need to nominate a ‘buddy’, someone that will support me on the day.
The event is the amazing 2swim4life event in which you swim 24 miles over 24 hours at Guildford Lido. The idea is that you start on the hour (or half hour), swim your mile and get out, then repeat on the next hour and so on until you have done 24 miles/hours.
As you can well imagine it’s pretty brutal and this is why the buddies are so vital. To have someone that can offer you a warm cup of tea, remind you to get warm and changed and just be there for chat/support during the ‘dark’ hours (in more ways than one) of the early morning is vital.
Unfortunately I’m not in a position to ask a partner/parent and I don’t have any training partners, so I need to ask around. If you’ve ever done any marathon events, or supported others doing them, then you’ll know that it is bloody hard work (I’m not going to lie), but equally, bloody rewarding.
So, got any plans for May Bank Holiday weekend next year?
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* If anyone fancies going down the pub then let me know that as well. I said it wasn’t “just” a desperate plea for that!
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UPDATE:
As a friend pointed out on Twitter, being a buddy and offering support for 24 hours is a long time and would end up being as tiring as actually doing the swimming. The ideal solution would be for two or three people to take turns or shifts at this. Once I’ve entered it would be my intention to recruit a support team. The reason I’m asking in the singular at this stage is that I need to name a person on the entry form and I can’t enter without listing someone as my buddy.