Annaleise's Radical Crossing 2.0

So, I’m about 6 hours from finishing my 75 km across Lake Erie off!  Not exactly the way it was supposed to happen, but just as, if not more important because of the message this swim sends!  No matter what you are going through (good or bad), NEVER give up! Like with the battle against cancer and having to take a break in your like and refocus, this is the same with this radical crossing of Lake Erie!  Sometimes you just have to stop and then go on with things after the storm has calmed some!  When I do a book signing I like to write in the book to “Find something you love, and NEVER give up!”, and today I am going to attempt to prove my words and show that anything is possible with hard work and determination!

I’ve had a great sleep this afternoon and am ready to go, and as I look outside as I type, my wonderful friends at The Weather Network seem to be right about the weather straightening out this evening.  The flag on the pole on our farm here between Jericho and Walsh is even laying right down at times!!  Thank you so much to all the folks at TWN for being such wonderful partners and providing the personal weather reports for both of these Lake Erie swims!!

Thanks you too to all my crew and those who are volunteering time once again!!  I can’t believe I have so many people who would basically give up their summer to help me help Camp Trillium!!  You are all amazing and watching how well you work with my family to get things done is inspiring to me!!  I know you are all friends for a lifetime and are part of our family!!  It’s been an incredible summer of working out together, traveling together, meeting together, and laughing together!!!  Talk about memories!!  And think of the lives you have changed at Camp Trillium!!

I think I head out at about 9:30pm, and I know that there is a real push to have people come to the pier in Port Dover and see me off, which is embarrassing and makes me feel very good at the same time!!  If you’re their I hope I get to wave at you or even yell hi!!  You have all been so wonderful to me!!  I’m just that little girl from the country that wants to help other kids and I want you to realize that!  My community and country for that matter have been so great to me and in helping me and I hope you all know how much I appreciate it!!  There are just no words to describe how I feel about you all!!  Whether it has been giving time, money, praying, cheering or sending well wishes, YOU have made this possible and made the world a better place for someone battling cancer!!

I know I have been bad at blogging!  I seriously haven’t had the time !  I’ve done a lot of things and spent the summer working at the pool in Delhi, so even with the training and swims my life has been incredible! Sitting on a computer typing just didn’t seem like a way I wanted to “balance” my summer 😉 !

Anyway, I need to go and finish off preparations for tonight!  I will be leaving for Port Dover soon and hope to see you all there!  Continue to monitor my progress on the “Broadcast” page here on my website and PLEASE continue to give to Camp Trillium and allow kids and their families in a battle for life to have such a small time to have fun and have a smile on their face!! I believe all kids deserve to be kids…no matter what…don’t you??!!  Donate either here online on my website or at the Tiki Hut on the Port Dover beach where my great friend Duane Rutter will continue his guitarathon tonight beginning when I get in the water!  Thanks you all so much!!  Love Annaleise <3 !

I’m going to apologize first off for not blogging as much this swim!  I found that I was about a 100 times busier this time!  School, events, speaking, training, work, they all made it tougher to find the time to do things like this!

I want to make sure I thank all of those involved with this swim from crew, to volunteers, to sponsors, to everyone who has donated and supported!!  I’d love to mention everyone by name, but as I’ve learned, someone would get missed and I don’t want that. So thank you from the bottom of my heart, and that goes double for my family!

I can’t believe it is finally here!  Actually, finally doesn’t seem like the right word, because it came so fast!  I’m sorry if me having to start early ruins any plans! With the time I need to do this swim, I need that big of a window before the storms come on Saturday!  I’m ready!! I want to go now actually!!  But I better try and get some sleep!  I talked to a couple of TV stations here when I arrived, so it’s nice that they care about what is happening for Camp Trillium!!  This team I have over here is incredible!!  A special shout out to everyone in my home county of Norfolk!!  I can’t wait to swim home tomorrow!!  To those who have embraced the Ripple Effect like Duane, Josh Buchhold, the kids at the Waterford Museum, and so many more thanks so much!!  I know I won’t be able to sleep tonight, but I’m signing off anyhow and trying !  My parents will update my blog like 2 years ago when I swam Lake Ontario, so you should have some information as I swim!!  Thanks so much for sticking with my and I’ll see you on the beach in Dover !!  Good night everyone!

Training has been amazing, though tonight we went to Long Point Provincial Park to train and the waves were like ocean waves they were so big!! I heard that someone almost drowned today at Long Point and I see why!  If next Friday is anything like that we may have to wait it out.  So, we packed up and went to Turkey Point and it was almost flat there. I’ve been training between 2-3 hours each night in various conditions and temperatures.  Distances of 5-9kms and I’ve been feeling great!  I can’t wait to get this swim going!!

I have to thank everyone for all they have been doing!  I won’t name names because they are just endless!  This has been so humbling! I went to Norfolk County Council this morning and thanked them and the people of Norfolk for all they have done! But there are so many more too!!  None of this happens without every person that helps or gives!  So THANK YOU!!!

I’m going to make this short tonight, but not before I mention Josh Buchwald!  As I set out to do, I wanted to create social change so that people just did things for others, just to help, not for self exposure or awards, but just to be good people! That is the idea of my “One Drop, Many Ripple” theme surrounding my swim!  So, I get an email from Josh about a month ago asking if he could use my picture and name in order to clean cars at his business “Boston Car Cleaning”, to raise funds for me and Camp Trillium!  I though it was wonderful that the ripple effect was happening and asked if I could help him out!  So, if you saw the , you saw the story about Josh and what he’s doing this Saturday!  We all have a gift that God has given us and we need to use it and use it to the best of our ability, and if we can use it to help others, all the better!!  Way to go JOSH!!

Well, good night all, I really need to get some rest!  Shout out to all those who came out to the volunteer session in Port Dover tonight!  Thanks so much!

So, school is done and I’m back from North Dakota!  I was blessed to be able to compete in the longest open water race in North America, the Extreme North Dakota Water Endurance Test (END-WET), and even more blessed to finish in 2nd in the competitive women’s division…or possibly more blessed to still be alive !  This race is 36 mile/58 km of craziness, or at least it was this year!  The mighty Red River was at the extreme flood level and the local sheriff’s dept almost called the race off because of the danger…I know why!  The river moves pretty quick, which will tell you how I finished in 9 hours and 31 minutes, but it’s the other things that really make it crazy!!  How about floating trees!!  Otters!! Street signs buried beneath the flood waters!!??

Anyhow, it was crazy fun and I once again had one of the greatest kayakers in the world (right up there with Darcy Campbell, Rob Smith and Tyler Wilson) in Scott Olsen from Fargo, ND!!  Thanks Scott for looking out for me…and for helping me when my life was on the line!!

So, I suppose you all want to know the story?!  Okay! We were a long way through the race and we stopped so I could feed.  We were right on a bend and I got caught in a current and it swept me toward at dam of logs and trees which had kinda’ washed into an elbow in the river!  I tried to swim out of the current, but there was no use!! As I got closer to the pile of logs, rather than be swept underneath of it, I grabbed on to the first log and held on until Scott could manoeuver around all the debris and help me!!  My hero ;)!! I know he was upset, but it’s that type of thing that makes this sport so appealing to us open water swimmers!!  The unknown!! Just because you made a swim once doesn’t mean you’ll make it next time!  What will be around that next bend?  All of these type of things keep us coming back for more!!  I was honoured and humbled to be able to swim alone side so many iconic open water swimmers in North Dakota!!  Thank you Andrew Magness for bringing me down to the brown Red River to play !

So, it’s always nice to be back in Canada!  Thought I’d update you and introduce you to my coach for my Lake Erie crossing!  Paula Jongerden  is one of only a few people who have swam across Lake Erie and a very awesome person, and can you believe she lives only about 3 minutes from my home!?  I’m so proud and honoured to have her on board and she is so positive and funny and I know she will make this crossing a lot of fun!!

Our planning has been so well done!!  My team is just amazing!! I believe we are ready now…I know I’d like to go any time!!  The water is the prefect temperature!  Last Sunday when we did the training day the temp was 61-62  which I thought was great!  I’m sure it’s much warmer now.

I’ll sign off by mentioning that I’ll be in the boat parade and the street parade on July 1st in Port Dover!  Happy Canada day everyone!!  Don’t forget to get out and help me help Camp Trillium!  Let’s keep the donation thermometer on my website rising!!!!

Okay, this one will be a very quick blog!  I’m getting ready for my exams which start Thursday and I’m finishing up my CCAs.  I also had 4 hours of staff training tonight as I’ll be working at the Delhi Kinsmen Pool this summer!  Tomorrow I’m going to get a couple of hours of training in the lake at Turkey Point in between my studying sessions!

So thought I’d just share with everyone that I will be back at the this summer as a guest on August 17th!  What an honour again and thanks to Steve for inviting me again!  This is a great event and they do it to raise awareness about the cleanliness of lake and Lake Ontario Waterkeepers!  Can’t wait for this event, but Lake Erie first!  Good night for now!