From Antarctica to the Arctic Circle in Magical Realism

After Antarctica I had one night in Buenos Aires, then a red-eye the next day back to JFK. From there I had a few hours at home before I was slated to begin another journey to compete at the first world iceswimming championships above the Arctic Circle in Murmansk, Russia. Unfortunately, I was sick as a dog and seriously wondering if I’d be able to make the trip back to the airport, much less travel another 24 hours and swim a kilometer at zero degrees and represent the USA appropriately.

I decided to at least give it a try. A helped me repack and get my bags into a cab. I slept the whole way to Moscow and felt a bit better for the connection to St. Petersburg and then on to Murmansk. My assigned Translator/Guide, Natasha, met me at the airport and brought me to the host hotel. It was really nice, brand new, and beautiful Russian ladies in native costumes met us in the lobby with a display of decorative challah bread.

They whisked me through check-in, I dropped off my bags in the room and I met Natasha back down in the lobby to get me registered. Registration was frustrating, as usual, but we got it done and then sat in for the briefing. It went until about 9pm and I went to bed around 11pm.

The start the next morning wasn’t too early - we got outfitted and went outside for the opening ceremony, which was really nice. Weather was sunny with snow flurries and air temperature about -5 degrees. After the ceremony I went in for medical, and passed the check and the EKG. (I always get nervous, no matter how many times I have this done.) There were heats all day, I was in the final and fastest women’s heat, so had tons of time to get nervous. I wasn’t feeling amazing, but I felt all right other than being completely freaked out at the idea of swimming more than twice the distance I’d done in ice. I told myself I just needed to swim my own swim and not try and race it. Before long it was time and they paraded us out. They called our names, we waved to the bleachers, then stripped down and got into the water. The cold hit me like a punch in the chest:

The horn sounded for the start and we were off. I felt good in the water and kept it smooth and strong. There was a bit of disturbance a few minutes into the race when one of the Russian girls became distressed and had to be rescued, but we all kept going. I kept running my mental checks making sure I was okay, and the laps kept ticking by.

The time passed quickly and I was thankful to be feeling good throughout. Finally I had completed the 40 laps and it was time to get out. I climbed up the ladder where my team had my shoes ready for me. They pulled my goggles off, threw a towel and my coat on me, and walked me to medical. I was nervous I’d have trouble walking, but I was fine. Just in case, two strapping Russian sailors stayed close by my side…not bad!

They checked me out quickly, then I put my coat on and walked up to the main building. Went into the recovery room where lovely Russian ladies and two young tattooed men covered me with hot towels until I re-warmed. Then they took me into the sauna where I hung out with the rest of the ladies and chatted until we were warm again. The race and recovery were done. I made it!

In the evening there was a completely insane awards ceremony. A 20 minute fireworks display, tons of speeches, and live music. I managed not to fall during the procession, which was excellent. After that we went indoors and had another ceremony where we got our medals, certificates, and flowers for the ladies.

Who’s the world’s happiest female iceswimmer aged 35 - 39?!? THIS GAL:

The rest of the night was a progression of vodka toasts, loads of food, and celebration into the night. The next day were short distances for the Russian National Championships, I did all the races but didn’t win any medals. After the competition we had an excursion to the Russian Icebreaker ship Lenin, which was cool but I was a walking zombie for most of the tour. We had nothing official scheduled so I went to sleep right after that. I needed it!

The next and final day was more heats of short distances, and the 450 meter event. I remember being so stressed for this in Siberia, but after the 1k, 450m seemed relatively short. It was the last event, I won my age group again and then it was time for celebration again. Another wild awards ceremony, with more traditional songs, dance performances by dancers dressed as sailors, and a huge podium. OF COURSE I tripped on the stage on the way up to the podium.

After the ceremony there was another party, with oodles of food, tons of alcohol, and even some dancing. After the party was the after party, we went to a club in Murmansk - on the walk there we found a street sign for the event so of course I had to pose with it.

Happy girl!

Stayed out nice and late and barely made it to repack and head out for the airport the next day. Said goodbye to Natasha and continued on with Olga, Craig, Wyatt, and friends. I parted ways with the last group in Moscow, and then continued home.

I’m not given to much self-reflection, but on flight home I marveled at how much my life has changed this past year. Some terrible, but so much good too. I never thought I’d have the opportunity to travel the world, representing the US in this crazy burgeoning sport of ours. I never thought I’d make friends all over the world or be a world champion in anything. I never thought I’d swim in Antarctica and above the Arctic Circle in the same week. Before long I was home in NYC again, another grand adventure in the bag.

Last updated June 24, 2015