Lynne Cox is my Lance Armstrong

After the euphoria over Lance's sixth TDF win I felt a little left out because I'm not a big cycling fan. Though I can appreciate the grueling training and effort that goes into the TDF I can't truly appreciate it because I can't really imagine it since I'm so far removed from the cycling world. But I've finally found a distance athlete that I feel one with, that I admire and that I totally get: Lynne Cox.

I'm reading her memoir and besides being a fantastic writer, a cool human being she's one of the most determined athletes I've ever read about. In case you don't know Lynne Cox is basically the best open water long distance swimmer in the world. She swam the English Channel twice, both times breaking world records. She swims 2 1/2 miles an hour (sometimes faster) for more than 10 or 12 hours at a time. She's also a freak of nature in that she swam the Bering Strait, one of the coldest stretches of water in the world - a mere 33 degrees - without a wet suit, any flotation devices or anything.

She's a determined woman who began swimming as a chubby fat kid and who worked out with Olympic athletes at age 12. That's when she said she wanted to warm up in the same lane with the silver and gold medalists in the 1972 games in the 400IM and 1500m (both men).

She breaks world records constantly but what amazes me is that her swimming is more universal than personal. The challenges she picked - swimming across the Bering Strait from U.S. to Russia during the height of the cold war - were her way of making the world a better place. She was so unselfish that when she first swam the Catalina Channel at age 14 she was a whole THREE HOURS ahead of the team she trained with and on pace to break the world record but she stopped and treaded water to wait on the slowest swimmer so that they could swim in together as a team. She didn't think it was right to gain personal glory when she promised to swim with the team. Even though two men on her team went ahead and swam and then dissed her and the girl she waited for in the media. Her swimming is so unselfish, she has incredible talent and yet she has none of the hubris I've seen displayed by many a male athlete at the top of their sport. Her memoir "Swimming to Anartica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer," is amazing and is a must read for aspiring swimmers who get a little whiny about another day at the lake or at the pool. She is truly inspiring and a good role model to all athletes.