Sinje swimming for Navy Seals

[ingridmuus]

Dear friends,

I'm writing to You with an quite unusual birthday wish. As most of You know am I an avid swimmer with a passion for long swims in cold rivers, lakes and oceans. When I was swimming in Florida in winter (yes, water gets cold there too) I not only met some new swimmer friends, but was also recommended to swim the Tampa Frogman - a 5k swim in january, where even Tampa Bay is cold. It is a charity swim by the Navy SEALs, people I admire for their dedication to their job and training. They also have contributed immensely to making ocean swimming safer. Coincidently the swim is always around my birthday. So this year I was lucky not only to get a starting place in the swim (only 100 swimmers), but also vacation and a confirmed booking for my yearly vacation flight. And last but not least Tampa is the first CityLine longhaul destination. So lots of reasons to swim.

Now comes the awkward part: the Frogman swim is a charity and the swimmers are asked to help fundraising. When I signed up for it, I thought, well that's fun and easy. But the longer I thought about it, the more awkward it became. I've never done any fundraising and it feels very strange to asked family, friends and colleague to donate for a charity. So I've been waging the pro's and con's, thinking about skipping the whole project. Giving my place to somebody else. Since I'm going to Florida anyway, I pictured myself standing on the beach, seeing the others start the swim. I would regret my cowardice. So I might as well try.

The swim is for the Navy SEAL Foundation which provides injury & tragedy assistance to the SEAL's and their families - http://www.tampabayfrogman.com. I had the pleasure to see some of them in action swimmimg in Lake Cane, Orlando - unbelievable how they swim. I like their approach to help each other in a rather unconventional way, finding solutions where other just see problems.
So I want to swim for their cause and therefore ask YOU for a birthday gift: please support my quest and donate. My goal is to raise $ 1500,00. every cent counts, and what's missing to the total I'll provide myself.
I'll thank You in advance and will sent You a picture of me in my sealsuit after finishing.

http://www.imathlete.com/donate/NavySEALFoundationTampaBayFrogman2016

If You know anybody who might like to donate, please feel free to forward my mail.

Wish You all the best.

Yours

Sinje