Swimming Across NC
Earliest childhood memory: I’m bobbing and swaying in the gentle whitecaps of Kure Beach on Pleasure Island just south of Wilmington, safe in my father’s sturdy arms. My tiny hands hold tight to Dino, the inflatable green dinosaur that Mom and Dad bought for my sister and me at the Sinclair gas station back home in Asheboro. Dad holds me up, assures me that he won’t let go, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that when I’m in the water with my father, nothing will harm me.
Traversing Childhood Waters with Family
Four decades later, Dad and I are on a road trip across the Southeast. The year is 2004, and he’s accompanying me on the reading tour for a book that I’ve written on Southern music. In a hotel room in Nashville, I’m feeling nervous about a TV appearance the next morning. “Why don’t you go for a swim?” Dad says to me. “It’ll make you feel so much better.”
A Lifeline of Serenity
For as long as I can remember, swimming has been my lifeline. It’s where I find peace and serenity after long days of writing and editing, elemental calm when it feels to me like the world’s out of kilter. When I’m swimming, nothing matters but my breathing, my strokes, and the warm caress of the water as my body glides like a vessel from one end of the pool to the other. As of this writing, I’ve swum in 50 YMCA pools across North Carolina, from Asheville to the Outer Banks.
Rediscovering the Love for Swimming
I didn’t start out with the goal of swimming at every YMCA pool in the state. That’s happened gradually, beginning in 2002, shortly after I returned home following many years living in New York City and Los Angeles. I’d reached my early 40s and needed to start exercising more. Running was out of the question; I never enjoyed sweating on the side of a road as cars whizzed by. But swimming was a long-lost love of mine. It was something that I knew I could — and would — do.
Cherishing Family Bonds
From my apartment in Uptown Charlotte, the closest indoor pool was at the Dowd Y on Morehead Street. For about four years, I began each day there, swimming 20 laps before heading over to The Charlotte Observer, where I worked as the entertainment editor.
Nurturing a Lifelong Passion
At the YMCA in Goldsboro last summer, I met a woman who looked to be in her mid-60s. I’d been watching her in the next lane as she bolted by me multiple times, gracefully, effortlessly, with perfect form. Encountering Inspiring Stories
Upon returning home, I reached out to an old friend, Doug Miller. He founded a company in Mecklenburg County called Miller Swimming, where he coaches water lovers of all ages. Back in 2017, when I was having shoulder problems, Doug suggested that I discard the paddles that I’d been using to try to build strength. Now, I told him, I was in a rut; I needed some assistance with my technique.
Embracing the Journey
“Really, most of the swimming part is just training,” Megan told the local newspaper after her big win. “Mentally, you have to have a good spirit and tell yourself you can do it.” One day, perhaps Megan, too, will take on the challenge of swimming across North Carolina — maybe even around the world.