Diana Nyad is going to disembark on her fourth attempt to swim 101 miles through shark and jelly-fish infested waters, from Cuba to the U.S.
If she is successful, she will be the first person to have made the 101 mile swim. It will take her about three days to make it, a time in which she could lost between 15 and 30 pounds. And she will also be facing down a challenge that has dogged her for years.
That’s because Nyad has already tried this before–three times. Once in 1978 and twice in 2011.
In the past something has always forced her to give up mid swim: asthma, jelly fish, powerful currents.
But at 63, she’s just as determined as before, carrying on her shoulders an empowering message that the baby boom generation has as much vitality as ever.
Training for the event, she swims six hours a day in a pool in Pasadena followed immediately by a 10-hour swim in the ocean. She has been swimming 16 hours a day since May, according to an interview with Nyad in Out Magazine.
She has not set a hard departure date, and the date will be determined by water and weather conditions, but it is likely to be soon, and you can follow her on Twitter to find out when she does leave.
Photo via Nyad’s Facebook page.
