As I drove back from Dover this Saturday and the sun came out I drove past lots of people basking the in the sun, with BBQ smells filtering into the car & observing pub gardens overspilling.  I got home slumped on the sofa exhausted from battling in the cold sea against the wind and the waves and managed to get myself some banana milkshake and a piece of toast before crawling into bed for an hour kip.

As I crawled out of my bed and felt bad that I had missed the beautiful sunny afternoon it got me thinking about the sacrifices I was making this year.  Usually I would have been the first person in the beer garden or hosting a BBQ, but for the rest of my summer you will find me in the sea plodding up and down trying to chase my dream of becoming a Channel swimmer.

It has been really hard to let people down and say no to so many things already, friends Hen doo in Ibiza, a friends wedding the same week as my Channel slot and I am sure there will be many more as the summer goes on.  When people ask if I am free at the weekend’s now generally the answer is no – it really is tricky trying to balance everything- friends, work, boyfriend and training but I am determined to do it but fear not all there will be one hell of a party at the end of it!

When you choose to undertake a massive challenge you know that it comes with huge sacrifices but it doesn’t mean you find it easy and I am sure that it can be easy to say ‘oh okay then, just this once’ but I know that is a slippery slope to go down so till mid September if I say ‘I’m afraid I can’t join you’ then please understand that it isn’t because I don’t want to – there is probably nothing more than I would love than to be able to say ‘Yes, Yes’ but it is only 16 more weekends of my life so ‘No’ it is till then.

This is my quest to become ‘A Channel Swimmer, stick pebbles down my costume and be in the club’ If you haven’t watched this cartoon before please do – it is very funny but so true!