One year ago this week, I stood on the shore of Wissant, France after swimming the English Channel. Blinking and smiling in the early evening sunlight, which was the most golden gold I’ve ever seen, I let myself be overcome with joy and happiness.

It still feels surreal.

The Channel was never just about swimming all that way. It was about years of early mornings, cold water, self-doubt, persistence, incredible friendships, and believing that an ordinary person like me could possibly do an extraordinary thing if I kept showing up and if I wanted it badly enough.

I’m especially proud that this journey also raised over $10,000 for Jumpstart, helping more kids discover the joy and confidence that sport can bring.

The year that followed wasn’t what I expected.

After my swim, my life changed in ways I never could have imagined. For a while, I let that overshadow the joy I should have felt: the joy from that classic golden hour in Wissant, when everything came together.

It also became impossible to keep the swimming momentum going. I wanted to, but healing turned out to be its own endurance event. Looking back now, I recognize how much I needed that break. I needed time to process, recover, and rediscover who I was beyond the Channel and the singular focus of training and training and training. I am many things, and becoming other things.

This summer I’ve played lots of tennis, I rode my bike around Hokkaido, Japan with my nephew, and I’ve swam glorious sunny laps in the delightful oceanside Kitsilano Pool. I swam at the Tokyo Aquatic Center, home of Summer McIntosh’s breakthrough Olympic performance in 2021. I have another bike trip just around the corner, and maybe I’ll do some swimming in Ireland in August. The world is my jellyfish! I’m looking forward to organizing an exciting roster of swims for 2027 with a clear head, a refreshed body, and a better understanding of who is really on my team.

I couldn’t have done any of this without so many amazing people. Thank you to everyone who paddled beside me, trained with me, coached me, mentored me, encouraged me, fed me, believed in me, donated to my charity, or simply encouraged me to keep going when things felt impossible. Especially to those who support me beyond swimming. Every solo English Channel swim may have one swimmer, but it is always a team achievement.

Happy Channelversary to me. Here’s to the next chapter. 🌊