Swim Across America 2015

Last Saturday, August 8, under the most beautiful blue sky, I completed my 5K swim in the Swim Across America event, which raises money to fight cancer. Our team raised over $27K. My friends and family helped raised almost $5K. Our CEO at Cirrus Data, Wayne Lam, donated $500, just as he did in all the previous years I have participated in this event. I was also honored by generous support from colleagues and investors. I wish they could have been at the ceremony. The doctors gave detailed and specific descriptions on the progress that had been made almost directly from funds raised by the organization. Testimonies from cancer patients, survivors, and their loved ones were poignant, yet triumphant affirmations of this important cause. The event raised over $372,000 overall.

I was brought into Swim Across America by a fortuitous meeting when I was at my previous company. Jim Sirignano, who was an EMC account executive, accompanied me to visit a mutual customer. Jim has been a devoted supporter of the event for many years, and he invited me to support his swim. My father was a victim of lung cancer. I was also painfully aware of quite a few relatives and friends who suffered from this terrible disease. I joined his team, first swam the 1 mile, then the 5K for the past six years. Since then the team has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The weather forecast earlier in the week called for rain the day of the swim. Someone apparently got to the big guy up there, because later in the week the weather people changed the forecast to sunny in the morning and cloudy in the afternoon. And that was what we got. However, that someone evidently forgot to ask for calm water. In my fundraising email (click on inset picture at left to view) I bragged (OK, exaggerated) about the “angry waves” for dramatic effect. That must have angered the waves. As I swam out, they came at me with a vengeance in a relentless manner. It was difficult to see the buoys to start with, and the three foot waves (OK, maybe one and a half foot) blocked my view such that I could not even see the kayak next to me. It did not help that my goggles were all fogged up too, so I was pretty much swimming blind most of the time and kept swallowing salt water. Of course with waves like that, mermaids were nowhere to be seen, but fortunately neither were sharks.

Since I kept getting off course, the kayakers had to come to bring me back again and again. After meandering for a long time, I finally reached the red buoy at the 2.5K turning point. I was relieved now that I was swimming back toward the shore. However, the trip back was just as bad as the way out. I kept swimming in the wrong direction. Apparently other people were also affected. A couple of us were pulled onto the boat so they could shorten our wonton wandering. Even with that, I ended up swimming for almost three hours. I normally can do the 5K under two hours – not something to brag about, but at least I would not finish last. Three hours of swimming in open water battling angry waves is a personal record for me. While it’s good that I actually could struggle with the waves for three hours, it feels like an embarrassing record. But hey, just like the athletes who did not win medals in the Olympics, “It is the participation in the game that matters…” (yeah, right). In previous years I wanted to swim in a straight line to honor Euclid, but mostly ended up swimming more like a 90 degree zigzag (thereby honoring Pythagoras). This time I ended up honoring whoever invented doodling, which is probably what my swimming pattern looked like.

But I survived this tough 5K. The truth is, I almost gave up. But the thought of letting my supporters down was just too much for me to bear. At the end of the three hour swim I had never experienced that level of exhaustion, but at the same time that level of exhilaration. It was completely worth it, and now I am looking forward to next year.