Diana Nyad Still Heading To The Other Shore

Diana Nyad Still Heading To The Other Shore

Steven Munatones 09/16/2010 Open Water Swimming No Comment
Diana Nyad is still waiting in Key West, Florida for the right conditions to set off on her estimated 60+ hour 103-mile (165K) attempt from Cuba to Florida.

Diana is both practical and inspirational in her mental preparation.

“Those 60 or so hours are not going to go down smoothly. There will be pain. Doubts will rise to the surface. Wrangling a disheartened spirit will be part of it. I am trained and capable to survive those down times and make it to the other shore.”

And she equates the long weeks she has been waiting for the optimal conditions to her swim. “It is now, during these intensely difficult times of waiting, second-guessing previous decisions, waiting more, watching the days of the calendar flip by one after another, that I must summon the conviction that has driven me all these 14 months.”

Diana, now 61 years young, remains positive and optimistic as does her entire support crew and the team at CNN. “The ocean is still very warm and that will not change soon. September has historically produced days of very calm waters and I believe those waters will present themselves some day fairly soon.”

But what drives one of the history’s greatest endurance swimmers? What do they think when times are tough? Athletes often hear of the concept of mind over matter and that marathon swimming is 80% mental. History’s most successful channel swimmers like Alison Streeter, Kevin Murphy (who once spent 52 hours in an English Channel three-way attempt), Philip Rush and
Steven Munatones
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