Chicot News

The Chicot Challenge is still on for September 26 beginning at approximately 8:00 a.m. We plan to leave from Lake Chicot State Park boat ramp and go to downtown Lake Village and back. This will be a stage swim, from the state park to the swim area at Lake Village. There I will exit the water for maybe thirty minutes. Then I will swim back.

Why the change in route from last year? Well, the uncertainty over the pontoon boat that we got the last two years from the state park caused me to rethink everything. My mind went back to Chicot I in 2012 when we did the swim with just two kayaks. The route was from the park, to the swim area in Lake Village, and back. So we are going back to the beginnings. At least that is the current plan. 

I have been knocked down so many times this time around, that I have been tempted to quit. With all the cancellations of races, my training motivation has sagged. In addition to that, my wife and I are trying to move after forty-two years in one house. This has been both time consuming and distracting. Then there was the uncertainty with the pontoon. On top of that, Gerald recently tried to reserve a room in Lake Village for the 25th only to discover that the motels there are closed. And to pile on to all of that, I recently I found out that I will have to work five straight Fridays starting next week. I have always relied on my Fridays off to do my big training. You have to do more than swim a few thousand meters a day to complete a swim as long as Chicot. At least once a week, you have to swim long, really long. 

That last one almost did me in. I am still trying to fight the fight, but I really don't know if I can pull it off or not. I decided that I will do what I can to get in my best shape under the circumstances and maybe my crew will have to pull me from the water or maybe I will quit at Lake Village. I hate to talk like that or even think like that, but 2020 has shown me that I am in control of almost nothing.

If you are a praying person, please pray for me. My outlook is not so good right now. Help me, Jesus.