Last week I’ve been back at work after a week scoffing pasties down in Cornwall with the family. I had a Parkrun and a few sea swims in between too which has been great. I also gave myself time to finish reading Diana Nyad’s memoir Find a Way.

Diana was the first person to swim from Cuba to the United States. This incredible achievement over a distance of around 180km (110 miles) took 5 attempts, a lot of heartache and dedication to the dream.

I wanted to read this book after watching an interesting Ted Talk by Diana titled “Never, ever give up”. In the 15 minute appearance she talks about the challenges and motivation she found for taking on extreme distance swimming. Right at the end she calls to the crowd “find a way!”. Not only did I want to read her full story I wanted to find out who exactly Badass Bonnie was too!

I found Find a Way well worth the read and interesting as an open water swimmer. I would definitely recommend it to anyone whether a swimmer, sports fan or in need of some inspiration.

That is also to say that other than doing “catch up” not in the water that’s as much as I’ve done professionally following my return.