SWIMMING to ANTARCTICA by Lynne Cox
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
LC6 03-05 p08 Swimming FC 1/13/05 12:10 PM Page 2 NONFICTION>> Reading Comprehension 8 MARCH 2005 Literary Cavalcade LC6 03-05 p09 Swimming FC 1/13/05 12:10 PM Page 3 Swimming toAntarctica Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer by Lynne Cox She’s known as the OT WANTING TO WASTE TIME OR TO GET best long-distance cold and have my muscles grow stiff, I swimmer in the world. began swimming fast again. The juice From the subzero waters boosted my blood sugar and I felt a lot of Antarctica to shark- stronger. My father had recommended infested seas, she has taken that I stop to feed every hour to maintain on the most treacherous waters of the globe. my blood-sugar levels, but I hadn’t wanted to stop at all. I just wanted to keep going. The Story So Far… Now, looking back on it, I knew he was At ages 15 and 16, she right; it would have helped significantly. But I was still on pace, swimming better than I had imagined. broke the men’s and NAbout an hour later, Brickell came out of the pilot’s house women’s world records for and waved at me to lift my head up and listen. He asked, “Do you swimming the English think you can sprint for a mile?” Channel—a 33-mile I had been swimming hard already, and the thought of sprint- crossing in 9 hours, ing—well, it would be harder. But yes, I told him, I could do it. 36 minutes.This is her “Good, because there’s an oil tanker coming down the Channel account of her first at nine knots. He cannot stop for you. You’re either going to have to record-breaking swim. wait here and tread water for thirty minutes or cross the tanker lane before he gets there,” Brickell explained. He didn’t mention that once we had committed we could not hesitate or we could be crushed by the oil tanker. Somehow I already knew how serious this was. “Okay, I’ll sprint,” I said quickly, putting my head down and taking off, moving as fast as I could for about twenty minutes, until I saw Brickell wave to me again and point. The tanker passed us like a whale cruising past a minnow, with the bow waves surging toward us, lifting us high into the air, maybe fifteen feet, and we surfed the waves toward France. Lynne Cox began serious swim training at the age By seven a.m. my arms were burning. They felt like I had of 9. Now, she swims not been lifting twenty-five-pound dumbbells for hours. My neck was to break records but to achieve personal goals. continued ➟ ILLUSTRATED SCHWEIKARDT/SPORTS OUTLINE; INSET PHOTO:©ERIC DENNIS BROTHERS/CORBIS ©JULIE Literary Cavalcade MARCH 2005 9 LC6 03-05 p10 Swimming FC 1/18/05 11:17 AM Page 4 LITERATURE SELECTION >> SWIMMING TO ANTARCTICA by Lynne Cox ➟ continued from page 9 sore, as I had been raising my head up to see Clockwise from left: Pausing for a the French coast, now a dark outline on the “feeding” during an horizon. And my lower back ached and I was English Channel crossing, 1970; getting tired. Stopping to stretch my back by having just become the first person to grabbing my ankles, I asked for an oatmeal swim the Cape of cookie. I was so hungry. For hours I had been Good Hope in South Africa, 1977; dreaming about eating a real American ham- beginning a series of swims that would burger and a chocolate milkshake. My moth- take her around er tossed me a cookie. My coordination was the world in 80 days, 1985. off, and I completely missed it. She threw a second. I picked the slightly mushy snack out FROM SWIMMING TO ANTARCTICA of the sea and ate it quickly. BY LYNNE COX. “Can you see Cap Gris-Nez yet, Mickey? Mickey said. COPYRIGHT © 2004 BY LYNNE I asked. “Lynne, this is going to be the most dif- COX. REPRINTED “See that point? The one with the little ficult part of the swim. There’s a current BY PERMISSION OF ALFRED A. light’ouse?” around that point. You’re going to have to KNOPF, A DIVI- SION OF RANDOM “Yes, I see it!” hold your pace if you’re going to break the HOUSE, INC. “That’s Cap Gris-Nez, Gray-Nose,” record,” Brickell said. Classic Connections READ ABOUT THREE MORE WOMEN WHO MADE A SPLASH THE BOOK THE STORY THE STYLE FRIDA: A Mexican artist Frida Kahlo Herrera is an art historian, BIOGRAPHY OF (1907-1954) was a strong, but don’t let her scholarly FRIDA KAHLO passionate woman whose life credentials scare you! Her (1983) was marked by terrible tragedy thoroughly researched by Hayden Herrera but also by powerful love. Her biography is a compelling art reflects both her tumultuous read worthy of its life and her tremendous spirit. compelling subject. BARBARA JORDAN: Barbara Jordan (1936-1996) Rogers examines both the AMERICAN HERO was the first African-American public and the private sides of (2000) elected to the Texas Senate Jordan’s life. She portrays by Mary Beth Rogers since Reconstruction, and the Jordan as a strong woman who first black woman elected to the battled racism and sexism— U.S. Congress from the South. and multiple sclerosis—with dignity and courage. RACE ACROSS In 1985, Libby Riddles became Writing in the first person, ALASKA (1988) the first woman to win the Riddles describes her by Libby Riddles Iditarod, Alaska’s grueling adventures during the and Tim Jones sled-dog marathon. physically and emotionally demanding race. Jones contributes brief background articles about the Iditarod. 10 MARCH 2005 Literary Cavalcade LC6 03-05 p11 Swimming FC 1/13/05 12:11 PM Page 5 London Thames Dover ENGLAND My sides were starting to ache from MEET THE breathing, and I didn’t feel good. I swam AUTHOR: faster, but after another half hour or so Cap LYNNE COX Cap Gris-Nez Gris-Nez didn’t appear to be any closer. And BORN the stench of the lanolin combined with the 1957 in Boston nnel Cha smell of diesel and dead fish from the boat Massachusetts. sh gli was making me queasy. The wind was blow- En FRANCE ing the fumes into my face. “Mr. Brickell, N could I move to the other side of the boat? WE 025 The fumes are bugging me.” S SCALE OF MILES “Certainly. Lynne, you’re caught in the tidal change now. You’re going to have to FOR THE swim faster. I know you’re getting tired, but if RECORD you don’t get through this, you’re not going to Most people get the record,” he said. would die within “You can do it. Come on, honey,” my minutes in water mother said, and Mickey cheered as well. less than 50 This time I started swimming like I was degrees, but Cox at the end of a workout, doing the last mile, has spent hours giving it everything I had. It was painful, but swimming in I pushed on. For more than an hour I didn’t water as cold as look up at shore. When I did, we had drifted 32 degrees. farther north, and Cap Gris-Nez had slid OTHER more to the south. This was hell, liquid hell. CHALLENGES I began reaching for more energy I’d Cox has had to never known I had. It was from all those cold face sharks, mornings when I didn’t want to get in and icebergs, raw work out, but did anyway. It was from all sewage, and those years of training when I was tired but animal carcasses “But I thought I was hours ahead of pushed myself through the workout. It was in her various record time,” I said, somewhat confused. from all those people who believed in me. I swims. “You are, but the current’s already push- pictured the faces of my family, my friends, QUOTE ing you north, slightly off course. You’ve my neighbors, my teammates, everyone who “This is really a already lost half an hour,” he said. said, You can do this, and I sprinted. My book about “Okay,” I said with determination, “this breath burned in my throat. My arms were on dreams as much is where all those sprints at the end of work- fire, moving faster than they ever had. I lifted as it is about out are going to pay off.” my head. We were making progress. We were swims. It’s about My mom and Mickey cheered, “You can directly in front of Cap Gris-Nez. following your do it.” “Come on, love. Let’s go.” “You’re a mile from shore,” Brickell heart as much as Brickell turned the Helen Anne Marie called to me. “This is where it gets tough. it is about slightly into the current to compensate for This is where a lot of swimmers give up.” His working hard, the northward drift and I began sprinting, voice sounded tired, and he should have and it’s about trying to break across the current. For nearly sounded happy. just doing things an hour I swam harder than I could remem- “What’s wrong?” I asked. when you don’t ber, and I was tiring. “The tide’s increasing. It’s pushing you think you can Stopping to stretch my back, I asked for south now. You’re going to have to sprint or and figuring out a drink of water and heard Brickell: “Lynne, you’re going to miss it entirely .