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Your Goals In Sight |
When she looked ahead, Florence Chadwick saw nothing but a solid
wall of fog. Her body was numb. She had been swimming for nearly
sixteen hours. Already she was the first woman to swim the English
Channel in both directions. Now, at age 34, her goal was to become
the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast.
On that Fourth of July morning in 1952, the sea was like an ice
bath and the fog was so dense she could hardly see her support
boats. Sharks cruised toward her lone figure, only to be driven
away by rifle shots. Against the frigid grip of the sea, she
struggled on - hour after hour - while millions watched on national
television.
Alongside Florence in one of the boats, her mother and her trainer
offered encouragement. They told her it wasn't much farther. But
all she could see was fog. They urged her not to quit. She never
had . . . until then. With only a half mile to go, she asked to be
pulled out.
Still thawing her chilled body several hours later, she told a
reporter, "Look, I'm not excusing myself, but if I could have seen
land I might have made it." It was not fatigue or even the cold
water that defeated her. It was the fog. She was unable to see her
goal.
Two months later, she tried again. This time, despite the same
dense fog, she swam with her faith intact and her goal clearly
pictured in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind that fog was
land and this time she made it! Florence Chadwick became the first
woman to swim the Catalina Channel, eclipsing the men's record by
two hours!
-- Unknown |
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