I found out the Aspire Channel Swim in a unique way - through a job ad! At the end of last year I saw a job advertised to cover maternity leave at Aspire, working on the Aspire Channel Swim challenge. I knew Aspire did actual Channel Swim relays, but I didn't know about the virtual challenge.  It felt right up my street so I applied and was successful. And here I am. 

I felt that in order to fully understand the challenge and how it felt to participate and fundraise, I should sign up. Luckily I love swimming but sometimes I can go weeks or months without swimming. I forget that the effort of getting wet and then dry is so worth it, for the feeling of exhilaration afterwards. So having to swim has helped remind me how much I like it.  I also love a graph or a statistic so logging my swims on my page and watching the tracker progress is immensely satisfying!  My main reason for swimming is for my health and wellbeing.  I think I'm better at life when I've been swimming. 

It's hard to explain why I prefer swimming outside. There is the lack of obvious restraints that you get at the pool: lanes, etiquette, chlorine, the close proximity of other people. Outside you are free, yesterday I saw a rainbow when swimming, last week I was only metres away from a huge heron. I can completely find my flow in open water and fully switch off from the everyday. And every swim is different. 

I would recommend that if you have the chance to mix up your venues, do so - maybe outside, or different swimming pools, try a lido. Visiting different venues takes away some of the repetitiveness of swimming several times a week. I have set myself the challenge of doing 44 miles in 10 weeks. I wanted it to be a significant challenge that I had to work really hard at. So I'm swimming 4-5 miles a week across 3 or 4 sessions at Westhorpe Lake in Marlow.

I am amazed at the power of being sponsored. After receiving the first donation, I knew that giving up was never going to be an option - whatever happens I have to finish the Challenge. This makes getting the motivation for each swim easy, as it's not optional - I have to go!

I haven’t done any fundraising since a sponsored forward roll when I was 8 to raise money for new mats for the gym club! Back then I knocked on strangers' doors in the neighbourhood, so this is my first time fundraising in the digital age. I have mostly used Facebook, WhatsApp as well as word of mouth. I prefer to let people know what I'm doing and then let them decide if they want to - and are able to - sponsor me. Updating my Facebook every few weeks has been very effective as well as posting Instagram stories. 

A friend of my sister has a spinal cord injury. Having worked at Aspire for eight months, I can see how a small team makes a huge difference to many, many people, who would have even greater struggles without the support of Aspire. 

Being able to start the challenge early, and therefore mostly swimming outside has made my Aspire Channel Swim really very enjoyable. Now in September it's already starting to get a bit colder, so I am very pleased that I can see the White Cliffs and I'm nearly back to Virtual England. I just have to decide if I'm going back to France again....

Sponsor Juliet

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