Jellyfish, powerful currents, asthma and other obstacles have already forced 62-year-old Diana Nyad out of the water on three attempts to swim 103 miles from Cuba to Florida, once in 1978 and twice last summer.
Any day now, if a good weather window opens up, she’s going to try once again to become the first to make the record-distance crossing on her own stroke power.
For months, Nyad’s “Xtreme Dream” has been inspiring followers with her relentless message that it’s never too late in life to pursue your dreams.
“We’re a new generation of 60,” she told Out Magazine in an interview that also explored her background of sexual abuse. “I want to feel alive and alert and awake and empowered. I’m in this rapture now, but it’s taken time to get here.”
Over the winter and spring, she told Out, she trained by swimming six hours a day in pool in Pasadena. Eight-to-10-hour ocean swims followed. By May, she was swimming up to 16 hours at a time. The Cuba-to-Florida swim, if she can make the crossing, should take about three days.
The drama heated up last month, when 49-year-old marathon swimmer Penny Palfrey attempted to make the same world-record swim. Strong currents ended Palfrey’s swim 26 miles early.
Nyad is an active and enthusiastic presence on Facebook and Twitter. Followers will be sure to know when she hops into the sea for her next attempt to fulfill a dream.
Photo credit: Corbis Images
