Back in late 2007, I read Grayson, Lynne Cox’s account of her experiences with a stranded baby whale in the Pacific ocean, but it wasn’t until recently that I realized exactly how she came to be in the ocean in the first place, and that her swimming there was part of a greater mission. That realization came with the reading of Swimming to Antarctica, the Alex Award-winning book that was published a couple of years before Grayson.

In Swimming to Antarctica, Cox shares experiences from her life as a long-distance open water swimmer, from the time she was a young girl and the passion for the sport was first ignited in her, through her many dangerous and record-setting swims, including the English Channel, the Cape of Good Hope and the Strait of Magellan. Each attempt comes with its own excitement and dangers, including treacherous currents, the risk of hypothermia, and sharks, just to name a few. Even when unsuccessful, Cox demonstrates that one attribute common among winners: she never gives up. She perseveres through each setback, each disappointment, each negative response, confident in her abilities and determined to realize her goals. One of the most time-consuming efforts, at least in terms of preparation, was her desire to swim the Bering Strait, from the island of Little Diomede in Alaska to the island of Big Diomede in Russia. When she first had the inspiration for this swim, the US and Russia were in the throes of the Cold War, and Lynne saw the swim as a means to bring the two nations together, to help spark the thaw between the two superpowers. Her plans were met with suspicion, denials and disbelief, but through the years, while pursuing other swimming goals, she kept working at making that one dream a reality.

Now, although I enjoy swimming, I am under no delusions nor aspirations to attain any similar goals as Lynne Cox. But as someone who has recently made fitness part of my daily life, who has begun to test and push my own body’s limits, it was thrilling to read about someone like Lynne, to read about what the human mind, body and spirit are capable of.  This was a highly enjoyable, riveting look at one extraordinary woman’s dreams, and how she made them happen.