Untitled - Quintessential Barrington Magazine

You’ll Never
Swim Alone
By
David Rutter
Photography by
Julie Linnekin
Barrington buddies Doug McConnell
and Don Macdonald aim to swim the
English Channel this summer. Even though
they’ll be in the water by themselves, they’ll
hardly be swimming alone. Hearts and
minds will be them. This is a total family
enterprise. That’s how it works. And it’s the
most fun any of them have ever had.
Doug McConnell and Don Macdonald are joined
by their wives and daughters at Lake Zurich, where
they both qualified to swim the English Channel. In
front, from left: Ashley McConnell and Rachel Macdonald.
In back, from left: Susan and Doug McConnell
and Don and Jennifer Macdonald.

Susan McConnell photographed her spaghetti
dinner as Lent arrived. She’s a professional
photographer, but that fact was
only coincidental. The onset of Lent was, too.
She wanted an official record. She was saying
goodbye to spaghetti. Her spaghetti. All spaghetti.
Her daughter and three sons were there to salute
their fallen pasta paisan, too.
Fare thee well, noble carbohydrate. Adios,
juicy meatballs. Via con Dios, dear, delicious meat
sauce.
Susan’s husband, Doug, and his buddy, Don
Macdonald, are swimming the English Channel
in August. Both gave up the glories of pasta and
all related joys two years ago. Wrong food group
to fuel an eight-hour swim in 60-degree open seas
or the 35,000 yards they have swum every week
since early 2010.
They eat all the time. It’s just that it’s not, well,
what you’d think of as food. It’s food-like components.
Yummy isn’t the right word.
Susan McConnell
Susan hung on to pasta for as long as her conscience
could stand it. But if Doug had to give up
spaghetti, all the McConnells would, too.
Little meals across town
Over at the Macdonalds, things are slightly more
serene. Don and Jennifer always have arisen before
dawn for separate fitness exercise regimes.
She is still getting used to him eating seven times a
day – “all little meals,” she says – and that he plots
to add at least 10 pounds for the swim.
She thinks it must the “blubber protects us”
theory of extreme sports. Don has calculated
with precise mathematical precision – a little like
Queeg chasing the strawberries – that he will burn
7,000 calories for every 10 miles of Channel water
he leaves in his wake. About 20,000 calories
for the crossing – adding a few extra for the cold
water - all of them he has to consume during the
plunge. He is no idle day tripper. He has done serious
thinking about this excursion into history.
And as organized as life has seemed for Jennifer
and 7th grade daughter Rachel, that won’t last
as spring ripens into summer.
It’s coming. It’s coming fast.
“I would say I’m probably embarrassed to not
appreciate the magnitude of this yet,” Jennifer
says. “I hear and I understand about the mileage
but I really can’t fathom what’s going through his
mind about his hopes and fears as much as we
talk. But when I’m in the boat halfway across the
Channel while he’s swimming, I will suddenly realize
what’s happening.
The Boys From Barrington are doing the actual
23 mile swimming. They'll be in the water on
their own mostly. No one may touch them. It’s the
rule. But they'll never be alone in the more spiritual
human sense.
This endeavor is a family event. A family quest.
There is a community of announced sidekicks
ranging from masters swimming compatriots to
professional coaches to old sea dog pilots who will
guide the experience. And of course, the spouses.
Most especially, the spouses.
Yours, mine and ours
They’re all in the big game. But few have lived
through two years of daily training with their
Dad, Husband, Friend.
“An obsession,” Susan admits. If Doug is going
to do something this crazy, the rest of the family
figures they can at least show solidarity by giving
up their beloved spaghetti.
Now there is a historical visual record of that
commitment.
And as much as the families try not to overthink
the possibility of a less-than-glorious outcome,
they are remarkably comfortable with what
the men are doing and how they are doing it.
“Is this like him?” Jennifer Macdonald says
with barely a heartbeat to ponder the answer.
“Without a doubt. I admire his focus and his ability
to set a goal. He’s wanted to do this all his life.
And I think it finally materialized when he found
Doug as a swim partner and friend. That really
motivated him. But this is really typical for D.J. He
loves to have real specific objectives to reach for.”
It’s not only important for supreme challenges,
such as swimming the Channel, to be supported by
loves ones; it also helps if they really believe it can
succeed. And to be historically accurate, not everyone
who tries to swim the Channel succeeds.
104 • Quintessential Barrington | QBarrington.com

photo: SUSAN MCCONNELL
From left: Billy, Gordy and Doug McConnell in Boston following the 2010 Boston Light Open Water Race. (Not pictured is Mack McConnell, who lives in San Francisco
and works for Intuit Inc.)
Are they ready? “They’re on their way to being
ready,” says Marcia Cleveland, their advisor of
record and one of the world’s exalted doyens of the
deep. She set up the complex latticework of swimming
intervals, lengths, times, and practice intensities
that, when considered as a whole, becomes
The Plan. She, above all, knows you can’t swim the
Channel without mastering The Plan.
Cleveland, a mother of two who lives in Winnetka,
has conquered most of the planet’s long-distance
ocean swims. She stroked from Catalina Island
to California (23 miles) in the dark. And more
to the point for this exercise, she swam the Channel
in 1994 as a 30th birthday present to herself.
“She’s his coach, but so am I,” Susan says.
“I’m comfortable because he’s comfortable,”
Jennifer adds. “He’s right on track with where he
wants to be. I think it even helped when he tried
the first time to qualify (a required six-hour swim
in 60-degree water) and he didn’t make it. The
water was just a little colder and for every degree
colder, it multiplies the cold for the swimmer by
10 times. So he had the experience of being shivering,
cramping and totally miserable. I think he
now is totally prepared both mentally and physically.”
Once it was clear where the first discussion of
this plan was headed, both women gave up trying
to change anyone’s mind. As if they could.
“He has greatness in him,” Susan McConnell
says of Doug. “He had talked about it, but it took a
partner to pull it out of him. It’s been two years of
training. Age (he’s 53) is pushing the timing. He’s
really been preparing for this his whole life, aiming
for this. This is the next thing, the logical step.
I always saw it in him. I didn’t know quite how
defined swimming was in his life, but this solidified
things and made sense to me.”
The McConnells have thrown the entire family
of husband, wife, and four children into the com-
ing battle with the cold water trip from Dover to
Calais. “Doug leads a very creative life. We have
four kids and three are adopted if that gives you an
idea,” Susan adds. “So he’s capable of doing almost
anything.”
Mack (23), Billy (19), Gordy (17) and Ashley
(13) all have their specific roles in the McConnell
Swimming Circus. Just making sure everyone is
in the right place at the right time is hard enough.
“Had no idea this project we’ve undertaken was so
big,” Susan says. “It’s a bunch of gigantic projects
all wrapped up in little patches. Three of the kids
are lifeguards who can go with him on open water
swims and be his guides. Billy has hand-built
a kayak from scratch, so he could go along in the
water.”
It’s well for Susan that her children all are
strong swimmers, especially if she falls out of the
crew boat. She can’t swim, and shows no motivation
to learn at this point.
QBarrington.com | Quintessential Barrington • 105

Rachel, Don and Jennifer Macdonald
embrace after Don finishes the 2010
Light Open Water Race in Boston last
August.
photo: SUSAN MCCONNELL
Jennifer Macdonald
Rachel Macdonald is a topflight junior swimmer.
Jennifer Macdonald can swim, but won’t,
“Unless something big is chasing me.”
Has this been fun? Or is that the wrong word?
Up at dawn. Trips to open water marathons in lagoons
and bays you’ve never heard of. It can be
numbingly cold at 4 a.m. Plus, life turned upside
down for a cockamamie quest. And clothes that
never quite get dry.
They have become water-born, ocean-fixated
pollywogs. Surely, it’s not all fun.
“It’s been a blast,” Susan says. “So totally fun for
the whole family. At the end of the day it’s the best
thing that ever happened to us. All the kids have
found that there is nothing you can’t do.”
Sometimes the task seems too large to comprehend
comfortably. “I am in awe of what they
are doing,” Jennifer adds. “I can’t quite grasp the
magnitude of it. It’s gonna be a once-in-a-lifetime
experience.”
Channel swim royalty
That anticipation will ripen into reality on Aug.
24. It’s D-Day for Don and Doug in Dover. The
families and Cleveland will all stand aside, and
turn Don and Doug over to Michael Oram and
his son, Lance.
The Orams operate the Dover Sea School and
are the royalty of the Channel’s swimming support
infrastructure. Have been for three decades.
They literally are the “Pros from Dover.” The
accredited pilots have ultimate authority over
each expedition. They operate the support boats,
manned by their safety teams and also toting the
swimmer’s personal cohorts. Everybody is going.
But the pilots are not a taxi service; they maintain
constant vigil over the progress of the swim.
They are Mission Control.
Michael, 62, has guided 500 crossings, many
of them world record achievements. Lance has
more than 300. Dad’s success rate is 75 percent
and Lance’s charges have made it 77 percent of the
time. Good odds. Both numbers are considerably
higher than the average for pilot competitors.
No one has guided more swimmers on their
trip to France (some were roundtrip ventures)
than Michael Oram, who was honored for his
skills with an induction into the International
Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame. But the
Orams are not merely hired hands. The candidates
for these Channel swims apply for acceptance,
present themselves to the pilots for close inspection,
and the pilots ultimately decide if they will
take the job.
“They pick people who they believe can do it,”
Susan says.
More than the $3,000 pilot fees each for Mc-
Connell and Macdonald are at stake. Professional
reputation is on the line, too, as well as the lives
of the swimmers, for the Channel is a dangerous,
hostile environment and the churning, frigid water
there can be unforgiving of error. That is why
preparing for the swim has taken two years of
daily, grinding physical preparation. But success
requires intelligent partnerships.
The Orams have done this long enough to
judge which candidates are more likely to be
seaworthy. And it didn’t hurt that Cleveland was
the coach of record. Her name carries a cachet in
this realm.
Thus, less than 10 hours after slipping into
the waters, they both will stride ashore in France
triumphantly. Fingers crossed. Knock-on-wood.
No one says “if.” At this point, there is little room
for “ifs.”
No one in either family has the exact specifications
for the post-swim celebration that will mark
the pair’s arrival in Calais.
But it’s a good guess that spaghetti and meatballs
will be a part of it.
106 • Quintessential Barrington | QBarrington.com

Don and Doug Swim For Their Causes
Both Don Macdonald and Doug McConnell have much more in mind
for their Channel swim than reaching the shore of France. Both men
have causes near and dear to their hearts. They encourage us to participate
in their swim and their causes. For more information, please
see below and visit the websites listed for each.
Don Macdonald has teamed up with the Barrington 220 Educational
Foundation, with particular interest in the support of social emotional
learning for district students. Don, formerly of Goshen, Ind., blogs about
his journey to swim the English Channel. Don discusses his three-year
planning, expert advice from previous Channel swimmers, training,
planned milestone swims and community charity efforts from soup
to nuts.
Doug McConnell will be swimming the English Channel in support
of the fight against ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. 100
percent of the proceeds will go to support groundbreaking research
at the Les Turner ALS Research Laboratory at Northwestern University,
one of the top ALS research laboratories in the world.
Visit www.alongswim.com to learn more or to donate.
Susan McConnell, Doug’s wife, blogs about her experiences from a
spouse’s perspective.
Visit www.mybionicboyfriend.com to learn more.
Visit www.one-stroke-at-a-time.blogspot.com to learn more or to
donate.
Rachel Macdonald and Ashley McConnell’s friendship was a catalyst to the introduction of their fathers who both qualified to swim the English Channel last summer.

Jennifer Macdonald and Susan McConnell

Marcia Cleveland is the 445th person to
swim the English Channel. This photo was
taken in Maine in 1994 by her mother,
Carolyn Cleveland.
CLEVELAND
ROCKS
Winnetka mom Marcia Cleveland looks like your next door
neighbor because she is. But she swam the English Channel
in 1994 and since has become one of the world’s top advisors
and organizers for open water swimming. She’s famous
in her universe, though you might not have heard of her.
She’s a Master Swimmer who is sought out worldwide for
her knowledge. She’s advising two Barrington men now on
how to swim the Channel in August. But her place in the
world was not so predictable. She was scared out of the
ocean by Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” at age 11 and didn’t get
back in the deep water until she was 23.
Quintessential Barrington: The year you swam the English Channel, 1994,
doesn’t seem like a long time ago. But the years pile up. What most do you
remember about the day you swam the Channel? What do you still feel in
your mind when the moment comes back to you?
Marcia Cleveland: Remembering that is one reason I wrote the book (the
“Bible” of Channel swimming, “Dover Solo”) because I wanted a memoir so
that I could remember everything. People always ask about it and this summer
it will be 17 years. It’s just that life was so different then being at a world
caliber level. What I remember vividly, of course, was the pain in my shoulders
and the cold. But I mostly remember what it felt like when my hands
touched the rocks (on the French shore). It was this feeling of complete relief.
QB: Why relief?
MC: You say to yourself: This is one of those days when you really feel like
you’ve done something in life. When you’re over there, all of these people
are involved in the same thing and it seems almost usual. My life had been
focused on that for such a long time. It was just my life. But the further you
are removed it, the more you realize how big of a deal it was. Not everybody
can get it together to do this. So in reflection – and even now – it sort of
amazed me that I could get myself to do this. Doing the training, everything,
every day. It’s even innovation of the training. I had a fulltime job at the time,
I was married, I was tired a lot, and I was just able to have my big girl pants on
every day. It took me five years to write the book. But it gave me perspective.
QB: Was the experience of the Channel swim what you thought it would be?
MC: Much better, a thousand times better. Before you swim you think it’s
going to be hours of agony and misery, but you get yourself so physically and
mentally prepared. First, my first hour in the water was in the dark, and I had
not prepared for that; so I was scared out of my mind. But then you realize
you are in your element. You are rocking and rolling. So you never whine
or cry. My husband and a friend were in the crew boat and they were in
their element, too. You begin by thinking it’s going to be 150-foot waves and
10-degree water. But you get so really, really ready. And once you start doing
it, you don’t pay any attention to that.
QBarrington.com | Quintessential Barrington • 109

QB: Is this the hardest swim in the world?
MC: Actually not. Lynne Cox swam the Bering Straight and there was her
swim to Antarctica. And the Irish Sea is really hard, 55 degree water and huge
jelly fish. Most humans can’t do that. So K2 is a harder to climb than Everest.
But not nearly as famous. It’s just that the Channel is the most famous swim.
QB: You were a great kid swimmer in high school (her school was undefeated
her junior and senior years) and college. So was this long distance swimming
the obvious next thing for you? Were you built for this?
MC: I think when I was a kid, I “left a lot of money on the table” as they say.
I did OK. I never had much speed; sort of the ball and chain. I never really
blossomed. Coaches then just had a high decibel level. But when I swam my
last race for Yale, I was more interested in how good the glass of beer was
going to taste. I didn’t have the right approach. So when I started swimming
Masters level, I did eight lifetime bests in 10 years. That’s a lot.
QB: But you prepared as a kid by swimming in the ocean off Connecticut?
MC: Not really. I saw the movie “Jaws” when I was 11. And I didn’t go into
the ocean for 12 years. It had really scared me to death. I didn’t even start this
open water swimming until I was 23. I was suddenly around older swimmers
who were brave and they just tugged me into the water. And before I
knew it, I was doing marathons around New York. It makes me a little more
understanding of swimmers’ fears now (as a teacher) and how they can have
a thousand fears and phobias in the open water. Like a blade of grass touches
you, and you think it’s a jelly fish. Then you gradually start to learn that you
are going to get through this.
QB: So, besides being physically prepared for open water, how did you
change your mental approach?
MC: When I got out of college, lots of things started to go wrong and get
complicated. I was having to be a grownup. And swimming became my security
blanket. When you have a good day or a bad day, you get into the water
and let out your joys and sorrows. It was better than the drugs of choice others
had. That is very typical of swimmers. You can always say to yourself: I
swam today and everything is OK. So I moved to New York, got a job in six
days and decided to go swimming at a YMCA on the Upper West Side. I just
happened to walk into a Masters Class. I started to realize I was on my own.
My own boss. I was in charge and it was all on my own terms. I was both the
prisoner and the warden.
QB: Is long distance swimming a human athletic talent, or is a question of
mostly consuming will power?
MC: It’s the first option. You have to be good swimmer to do this.
QB: In your book, you describe the level of repetitive work required to be
fit enough for these open water events as if you were describing a recipe for
lemon meringue pie. But I would guess not a lot of people can do that work
– 40,000 yards of swimming in a week for two years – or would even want
to do it.
MC: When it comes to preparing to swim the Channel, the road to hell is
paved with good intentions. In this society, everybody wants to be the red
race car. Some weekend warriors may do really well against the cold once, but
then the next day they don’t want to get out of bed. When I started working
with Don Macdonald and Doug McConnell (in Barrington), I sent them the
workouts for every day, and they are expected to do it. I’m not forcing anyone.
But they both know what’s at stake. The fact they have many other things
going on in their lives is OK. These workouts are designed for real people.
QB: Doug McConnell and Don Macdonald seem serious about this. I would
guess there’s no other way to make this swim than to be serious about preparing
for it.
MC: Yes, as teacher and coach I have to know what your real story is. But I
can smoke out people quickly. Don and Doug have yet to give me any excuse.
Like, “Ooo, I broke my toenail.” But they are in it for the real reasons. I’ve
had people who are not committed. Some want the dream and the ideal, like
a knight on a white horse. But real life doesn’t go that smoothly. If I decide
you’re not able to do this, I’ll say you need to think about it and then call me
when you decide what to do.
QB: Do your children know what swimming the English Channel means? Do
they want to “beat mom?”
MC: I think my daughter has read “Dover Solo” but I don’t know if Sam has.
My husband hasn’t read it because he lived through it. It’s not exactly required
reading in the house. (Chuckling). Sam swims for the Michigan Shore
team. Julia swims for the New Trier club, and she’s doing very well. We did
a swim together last summer off Long Island Sound. She is in the middle of
this group of my friends who are like her extra moms. She has a lot of people
in swimming who care about her. I’ve told them that if they ever want to stop,
it’s fine with me. It was not to be mean. They aren’t swimming for me. But
there isn’t much pressure to “show up mom.” She’s already beaten 11 of my
lifetime bests.
QB: How does that make you feel?
MC: She takes delight in that, and so do I. It’s fun to see her kick my butt. Of
course, if she wants to inherit Aunt Mildred’s couch pillow, that’s OK with
me, too.
QB: What’s your best estimate of how ready McConnell and Macdonald are
for the swim?
MC: Good as long as they do the training. But there are no guarantees, and I
would be a fool to give any. They know that totally.
QB: What happens when swimmers don’t succeed?
WC: It’s a lack of preparation obviously. Or the weather deteriorates. Or the
swimmer gets sick from what they eat when they swim. You get tired. You get
cold. Or some just give up. That’s a bad omen in life. Sometimes the pilot does
call off the swim because he has the final say. Obviously when this happens,
everyone is tremendously disappointed. Not so much the swimmer right
away. Because when you get out of the water because of hypothermia, the
boat has been looking really good to you for a long time.
QB: Do they fit the training experience model of your other students who
have made it?
110 • Quintessential Barrington | QBarrington.com

MC: They are doing what they need to do to be successful, to give them a
chance to be successful.
QB: How many have you tutored for the Channel?
MC: It’s more like advised. About 25. Maybe 10 have made it. Some have
started the training but dropped out because they couldn’t do it.
QB: Are there other successful Channel swimmers in the area?
MC: Maybe two dozen or so total in the Chicago region, although no one
who is super young because that doesn’t help. Older swimmers are more
patient. Maybe two or three in the Chicago area.
QB: Does the event change you?
MC: I think what it did was showed me the value of real hard work, and it was
totally up to me to succeed. I could decide when to end it at any time. Nobody
was holding me to this. But being able to put together a big project – there are
lots of people who cared and helped – was something special. It helps on those
horrible days when you can get it together. It’s helped me be a better parent.
QB: Can a person really know what it took to swim the Channel without
having done it? Is this one of those human events with a closed enrollment?
MC: That’s part of mystique, and it’s true. This thing is not a dime a dozen.
Sometimes someone will say they want to swim the Channel and even when
they take baby steps, they say “Oh my God. I didn’t know what was involved.”
That’s what brings the fraternity closer together of those who have done it.
The mutual respect. When they come back, they don’t need medals or attention.
You can just see it in their faces.
QB: I have never read an account of your exploits that goes long without
noting how important a person you are in the sport worldwide as a teacher
and leader. Are you comfortable being called one of the half dozen most significant
persons in your sport?
MC: I never expected to be important. But there are several of us women at
the top. Every year, we go back to England for a party. It’s great to see everyone
and see what they’ve done in the last year.
QB: How much time do you spend in water each week in warm months and cold?
MC: Right now about 25,000 yards a week, about 14 to 16 miles. That’s seven
or eight hours. When I did the Channel, it was 45,000 yards in 20 hours
a week, and then up to 25 hours a week. In the summer it’s about 50-50
between the pool and open water (usually Lake Michigan). I often use the
pool to work on speed. But you don’t waste time, like with polar bear activities
or goofing off like that.
QB: Tell me something about you that almost no one knows.
MC: I like to knit. I’m totally mediocre at it. But I just love it. I’ve knitted my
husband lots of sweaters. Right now, I’m working on a washcloth. It helps
keep my expectations low.
QB: What will you do next? Do you fear the Alexander the Great Syndrome:
crying because there are no worlds left to conquer?
MC: Nah, that’s not me at all. Maybe (swimming the Straits of) Gibraltar. My
husband loves Spain.
In 1994, Marcia Cleveland is joined by her husband, Mark Green, to savor the
ultimate finish for a swimmer – completing the English Channel swim.
Marcia Cleveland – Anatomy of a
MASTER Swimmer
Marcia Cleveland, 47, has lived with her husband of 20 years, Mark
Green, in Winnetka for the past eight years. Their two children are
Julia, 13, and Sam, 11.
She is a professional long-distance swimming coach, coach for Vision
Quest Triathlon Group on the North Shore, Master Swimming
organizer, a Girl Scout Troop leader and member of The Women’s
Exchange. She grew up in Greenwich, Conn., and graduated from Yale.
She is serving a four-year term as the national chair of the United
States Masters Swimming Open Water and Long Distance Committee.
The resume
In 1994, she swam the 23.69-mile English Channel in nine hours, 44
minutes. She was the 445th to swim the Channel.
In 1996, she established the American women’s record for the 28.5
mile Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in five hours, 57 minutes. It was
her fifth Manhattan Marathon.
In 2003, she swam the roundtrip English Channel route as part of a
relay team.
In 2005, she swam the 23-mile Catalina Island Channel in the Pacific
Ocean and reached California’s coast in eight hours, 56 minutes, virtually
all of it at night.
The work
As a 30-year-old, she averaged 45,000 yards a week swimming for a
year before her English Channel swim.
As a 40-year-old mother of two, she averaged 25,000 yards a week
before the Catalina swim.
In the water
As she swam the Channel, her head filled with the B-52's version of
the Flintstones theme song, a singing rendition of the ABC's stroke
by stroke, and the British pop song, “I Saw the Sign.” Cleveland was
also fueled by feedings which consisted of 30-60 second stops
where liquid would be handed over the side of her support boat.
She would tread water while gulping either chicken broth, watery
oatmeal or Nutrament – and then begin swimming again.