Throw Me In The Ocean

If you read my post from the evening of June 7th, you know I was gearing up to swim the 28.5 miles around Manhattan the next morning. But if that’s the last you heard (I never claimed to be good at posting regularly!) you may not know that I did not make it all the … Continue reading →

Tomorrow I will swim around the island of Manhattan. It is 28.5 miles, and if I make it all the way around, it will be the furthest I have ever swum in one go. I am pretty excited about it. I have written about why I am drawn to this swim; I am inspired by … Continue reading →

I am a toddler, maybe two or three, teetering between awake and asleep. My earliest memories, like this one, are dreamlike. I am in a metal-framed carrier way up high on my father’s back, walking along a pathway after a long day at some sort of festival. The visual details are hazy, but the memory’s … Continue reading →

With the exception of those joyous, carefree, childhood summers that lasted for years at a stretch, I can’t remember a time in my life when I was happier just going about my business day to day. I loved this summer. And on that note, although the last thing I would ever want to do is … Continue reading →

As the ocean water warms, and the winter fades into memory, I reflect on my first winter of ocean swimming…  But first… I remember a skiing trip my family took when I was around 10 years old with a bunch of other families from Seattle. At night, while the parents sat together over boring drinks, … Continue reading →

On a trip to England in July (2011), I finally came to know the Channel. Instantly I lost my fallback response to the question, “Do you want to swim the English Channel?” Before, I could just say, “Swim it? I’ve never even seen it!” Now, I’d have to start considering it, or at least come … Continue reading →

I met a bunch of English Channel alumni and aspirants in April 2011 in Malta, where I completed my first 6-hour swim. There I was, the lone American among mostly Brits, learning to tackle the cold and persevere through the mental games and physical pain of swimming farther than it seems like one should. The … Continue reading →

This is a post about attempting a six-hour swim in 15°C Mediterranean waters. Much of the post takes place inside my head. The first two paragraphs are repeated from the end of the last post, Systematic Breakdown of Body, Mind, and Limits (Malta post 2 of 3) DAY THREE Tuesday was the only day for … Continue reading →

From Sunday to Tuesday, deep and dark inner recesses of my mind were discovered and battled with, my body (shoulders, elbows, knees, skin and mouth) was wrecked, and my limits were very seriously tested… About the Malta posts My trip to Malta with SwimTrek was an experience unlike any other. It is covered in three … Continue reading →

My dad, Michael Rosen, was born and raised on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, with little exposure to nature. He escaped New York—his story went—on a plane to Seattle only moments after sitting for his final Fordham Law exam. The story’s punch line: he witnessed from above, just after take-off, the “grass” in Yankee Stadium receiving … Continue reading →