On July 4, 1952,
Florence Chadwick was on her way to becoming the first woman to swim the
Catalina Channel. She had already conquered the English Channel. The world was
watching. Chadwick fought the dense fog, bone-chilling cold and many times, the
sharks. She was striving to reach the shore but every time she looked through
her goggles, all she could see was the dense fog. Unable to see the shore, she
gave up.
Chadwick was disappointed when she found out that she was only half a
mile from the coast. She quit, not because she was a quitter but because her
goal was not in sight anywhere. The elements didn't stop her. She said,
"I'm not making excuses. If only I had seen the land, I could have made
it." Two months later, she went back and swam the Catalina Channel. This
time, in spite of the bad weather, she had her goal in mind and not only
accomplished it but beat the men's record by two hours.
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