Lake Erie Swim for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis – 1st Attempt.
Blackness. There is nothing but blackness. All around me – all I see: blackness. Then for a brief moment my right hand comes into view. Moving in methodical motion. It comes close to my face then disappears again. And then my left hand. Every direction: out, down, around, in-between – there is only blackness. I lift my head from the water. Stopping my forward motion. I look to my right to the only thing I can actually see – two glow sticks hung off the side of my friend’s kayak.
“Am I okay?” I ask into the darkness.
“You’re doing fine, Ryan. Just keep going.” My friend and coach, Eric, answers back.
I plunge my head back into the cold water and begin again the methodical motion of swimming. I try not to think about the cold. The relentless, all-around-me, unable-to-escape-from-it cold. Then a question flashes through my mind: “What the hell am I doing here?”
“Here” is Lake Erie. Shortly after midnight on Saturday, July 27th 2013 I left the shore of Longport, Ontario Canada and began swimming for Pennsylvania. In total a 24 mile trek lay before me. Our goal was to raise awareness and funds for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. They each fall…
