“The Rock” has been such a part of my journey!  One of the things that I actually did want for myself was to get my name on “The Rock” at Niagara-on-the-Lake along with all the incredible marathon swimmers to swim across Lake Ontario, and more specifically with my hero, Marilyn Bell!  That early November day when my name was unveiled will forever be etched in my mind!  So, fast forward to a trip my dad and great grandpa and I made to Oakville on Friday, and now “The Rock” have a new meaning for me!  The Toronto Rock have come on as an enthusiastic sponsor/partner and I just love how excited they are, not just to help me, but to help the kids and their families at Camp Trillium!  It was one of the most exciting meetings I’ve had!  So how did it come about?  Well, almost famously now, my coach for the Lake Ontario crossing, Lisa Anderson, forgot the feeding stick at home on the way to Niagara-on-the-Lake for the start of my swim :) ! She was riding with one of my pacers, Chris Peters, and they stopped at Canadian Tire and looked for something that might work!  They picked a lacrosse stick and it worked awesome!  So, as far as I know, I may be the only marathon swimmer to have used a lacrosse stick as a “feeding stick” :)! It worked, so I wanted to do it again!  I thought, well, why not see if the Toronto Rock Lacrosse Team of the NLL would be interested in sponsoring my “feeding stick” :) !

Toronto Rock Lacrosse

Little did I know how excited they would be!  To shorten the story, they’ve made it possible so that I can go to the final Rock game of the season on Friday and take the opening face-off with Colin Doyle and they are going to help me spread the word about Camp Trillium!  There is so much more (including I got to shoot with a lacrosse stick on their practice rink in Oakville) but I’ll just end this part here!  If you have a chance and are in Toronto Friday, come down to the ACC and see me face-off!

So my training is going VERY well and I’m feeling awesome!  Biggest problem is I can’t wait to get into the lake to train!  My pacer, Josh Reid , is waiting too!!!  I was honoured to be asked by Kate Haggis of Variety Village to headline and participate in their open water swim again this year on Sept 6th!  Trust me when I tell you Open Water Nation, this is the most awesome open water event I have ever been in, if only based on the beauty of Buttermilk Falls  :) !

Variety Village swim 2

This Saturday I will be signing my book and fundraising for Camp Trillium at the South London Chapters!  Please come out and see me!  Thanks so much to all the nice things that have been said about my book and to those who have come out to my previous book signings!  It was an honour to work with someone as talented as Deborah Ellis!!

I’m going to finish for tonight because I have so much homework :( .  I can tell report cards are coming out soon :) !