{"id":108482,"date":"2021-08-03T10:38:23","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T09:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/?p=108482"},"modified":"2021-08-03T10:38:23","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T09:38:23","slug":"im-swimming-for-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/presenters\/simon-biagi\/simon-biagi\/im-swimming-for-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m swimming for my life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month I saw the start of Swim22. It\u2019s a fabulous event that I took part in a few years ago, run by Diabetes UK. It\u2019s the worlds largest virtual charity swim and the idea is that within 12 weeks (from the 22nd of July till the 22nd of October) people should try and swim the distance of the English Channel! <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, 12 weeks sounds like a long time but this distance equates to a little over 1500 lengths of the pool and it certainly is a challenge. Although there are shorter distances and, if you\u2019re bold, longer distances as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I took part in it a few years ago I found<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I lost some weight and certainly got fitter but the most surprising thing about the event was the effect it had on my mental health. I hadn\u2019t really swam too much since I was at school and although I enjoyed a swim I hadn\u2019t realised that if you spent a little longer in the pool you could really find a sense of meditation in the swimming. It was the Swim22 event that got me back into swimming and subsequently led me into open water swimming, where I swim outdoors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Open water swimming has now been something of a salvation of mine as my knees won\u2019t allow me to run and swimming as one of the few exercises that I can do without causing myself any further injury. I love wild swimming and swim anywhere I can. The longest swim I have done is St Mary\u2019s loch in the borders of Scotland which is 6.4km long in cold dark water. Mostly, at the moment I\u2019m swimming in my local river and with a few twists and turns I can swim 2km. I plan to swim all 22 miles outdoors and I\u2019m going to see if I have the stamina to double the distance to 44 miles!<\/span><\/p>\n

I have been an insulin-dependent diabetic for nearly 40 years and Diabetes UK have always been a great source of information and help and I know that fellow diabetics and people living with diabetes have found them an invaluable resource. So when I was chatting to them I asked if I could help out with the swim22 promotions and made a few videos that I could use on social media to try and send a message out. I\u2019ve clipped together a few of them for you which I hope you enjoy and it would be great if you could follow the #swim22 and see how everyone gets on.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n