Untitled - Quintessential Barrington Magazine

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.