Untitled - Quintessential Barrington Magazine

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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
Page 4 and 5: photo: SUSAN MCCONNELL From left: B
Page 6 and 7: Don and Doug Swim For Their Causes
Page 8 and 9: Marcia Cleveland is the 445th perso
Page 10: MC: They are doing what they need t

Untitled - Quintessential Barrington Magazine

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