Marathon Swim Stories

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Today's guest has been marathon swimming for the last 4 decades! I was fortunate to run into Suzanne Heim during one of my online events. Can you believe that she jumped on What is marathon swimming q&a call - just to connect? It was fun to collaborate and point aspiring marathon swimmers in the right direction. As you can imagine, she has more than a few stories to tell, this is just an overview!

In her own words: As a youngster I swam summer league and competed in AAU competitions. At 14, I quit swimming to play boys water polo and run cross country. I helped start the Women’s Swim Team at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California. Fearful of the ocean due to a near drowning accident at age 5, I never stepped foot in the ocean until I was 18 years old.

Many swimmers spend their youth focusing on pool swims and later turn to open water swims. For me, it was the opposite. At 19, I joined the San Francisco Dolphin Swimming and Boating Club and completed solo marathon swims as well as racing 25k open water swims as part of the USA National Team. For the next 15 years many of the solo marathon swims were first person swims in San Francisco Bay and several set open water speed records. I then returned to USMS Pool swimming with the focus on pool racing setting World Records. One of the highlights of my pool swim career, since I still had college eligibility left, was being recruited by the Diablo Valley Community College coach as a distance swimmer at age 50! This was a lot of fun and resulted in a documentary titled, '50 Year Old Freshman'. I returned to marathon solo swimming in 2014 swimming around Manhattan Island—something I had always wanted to do. I was hooked and became inspired by my South End Rowing and Dolphin Club buddies who were training for incredible marathon swims--Michele Squyer, Cathy Harrington, Raine Pierce, just to name a few. Seeing them spend time in the water kept me motivated and in 2019 I completed a Round Trip Angel Island and Catalina swim and in 2020 the Length of Lake Tahoe.

However, swimming is not my number one passion! It is education of individuals with special needs. Throughout my youth I volunteered in high school to support my peers with special needs, was an assistant in a special education class and an educational therapist while working on my first Master’s degree. I received my teaching credentials and taught for 7 years before a year on scholarship at the University of Auckland . I returned from New Zealand and enrolled in another Master’s program and became a school psychologist/licensed educational psychologist for students with special needs, specifically: medically fragile, severe behavior disorder, intellectually delayed, autistic. Most recently I was working with youth who were incarcerated: significant mental health needs and post traumatic stress and trauma issues. Thankfully, no matter what was happening in my life, the water was always there to provide peace and whatever happened during the day I could turn off the ‘noise’ and focus on swimming and then return to my work with renewed energy. I continue to be dedicated to supporting youth with special needs even though ‘retired'. I participate on the Juvenile Justice Commission and am an Educational Surrogate/Advocate for youth. My two passions share a symbiotic relationship helping me to be successful in both areas.

If you'd like to be a guest on Marathon Swim Stories, email me! mailto:[email protected]

Music credit:

Epic Inspiration by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5447-epic-inspiration-

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My guest today is fellow Oregonian Sue Phillips. While Sue assured me that her story was not that interesting, she kept coming up with stories... I fondly remember playing leap frog with her in Lake Massawippi last year, but that was just the beginning... she's lost her kayaker around Lido Key, ridden the waves in the Chesapeake, and swam the width in Tahoe during a pandemic. Everyone has a story. I hope you enjoy Sue's!
In her own words: Sue is a middle-aged swimmer, camper, scientist-civil servant, mother, trail runner and beginner rower. She has no stand-out achievements in any of these defining activities, although her 17 year-old daughter is pretty dang cool, she's supported some extremely important conservation science, and is purported to be quite a good swim companion. Swimming and supporting other swimmers are where she finds her greatest joy, particularly if she can do these things while camping, She's not swum terribly far or in any extraordinary conditions, although she's found all attempts to date to pile on distance and adversity to be quite fun, and is regularly and incrementally pushing limits in both.
Questions, comments, feedback, or if you'd like to be a guest on Marathon Swim Stories, email me! mailto:[email protected]

Stay in touch by joining our email list at http://intrepidwater.com
Join a supportive group of limit pushers at The Marathon Swimming Collective

Music credit:

Epic Inspiration by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5447-epic-inspiration-
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Swimming sounds courtesy of swimmer Todd Lantry.

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In this episode of Marathon Swim Stories we talked to long time marathon swimmer Kris Rutford about the process, being committing to your commitment, how the same swim can always be different, and much more!
In his own words: I have been swimming my entire life. It is really the only sport I have ever participated in. I swam for the University of Nebraska 1977-1981 as a sprinter. After college I continued to swim just to stay in shape and then suggested to a friend that “anybody can swim the English Channel”. Needless to say, he took that as a challenge and successfully completed the Channel in 1986 with me as his trainer. We reversed roles and I completed the English Channel in 1988. That was my first “marathon swim”. Having met another swimmer in Dover who suggested I try the swim around Manhattan, I became curious and as luck would have it made my first trip to NY and swam around the island 3 weeks later. So that is proof that there was some sort of marathon swimming community back in the 80s, it just happened by word of mouth – no internet, Facebook, Zoom or cell phones. Now 32 years later I have completed the Manhattan swim 23 times, every one of them different. In 1995 I was the first person to complete the Manhattan Island swim clockwise. In 2016 I finally got to the west coast and did the Catalina Island swim to complete the Triple Crown some 28 years after the first 2 legs.
In my day job I am a CPA employed as a tax accountant for a local public accounting firm.
If you'd like to be a guest on Marathon Swim Stories, mailto:[email protected]

Stay in touch by joining our email list at http://intrepidwater.com

Music credit:

Epic Inspiration by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5447-epic-inspiration-
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Swimming sounds courtesy of swimmer Todd Lantry.

Support the show

Send us a text

Find personal bio, pictures, and more at http://marathonswimstories.com
Marathon Swim Stories is produced by Maxi Frini: https://www.maxifrini.com/
Questions, comments, feedback, or if you'd like to be a guest on Marathon Swim Stories, email me! mailto:[email protected]
Stay in touch by joining our email list at http://intrepidwater.com
Join a supportive, worldwide, group of limit pushers at The Marathon Swimming Collective
Music credit:

Epic Inspiration by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5447-epic-inspiration-
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Swimming sounds courtesy of swimmer Todd Lantry.

Support the show

Send us a text

Find personal bio, pictures, and more at http://marathonswimstories.com
Marathon Swim Stories is produced by Maxi Frini: https://www.maxifrini.com/
Questions, comments, feedback, or if you'd like to be a guest on Marathon Swim Stories, email me! mailto:[email protected]
Stay in touch by joining our email list at http://intrepidwater.com
Join a supportive, worldwide, group of limit pushers at The Marathon Swimming Collective
Music credit:

Epic Inspiration by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5447-epic-inspiration-
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Swimming sounds courtesy of swimmer Todd Lantry.

Support the show