Recently I met a young artist (photo above) at an Art Opening and while making conversation I bragged about a one mile open water swim I had just accomplished.  Her response was that she had swum around the island.  Taken aback, I asked her how long her swim was and she said 12 miles.  Nearly speechless, I came back with "That's nearly as far as the English Channel".  That's when she completely bowled me over, saying "I did that last year".

I was so impressed, so deflated, so squelched! Short of climbing Mount Everest, she had done it all.  To maintain some sense of sanity, I asked her if she had conquered Everest and she replied, matter of factly, " Not yet". 

There is a wonderful sobering lesson here:  I need to start serious training!