So I swam well over target last year but with the pool closures I couldn't swim enough. Today's sees me back for the 2nd time since the pools reopened... yeeha. Give if you can...

So, I managed 100 swims in the 155 days the pools were open in 2019. So I am pretty damn chuffed. Bearing in mind I set out to swim 26.2 miles I've wound up doing close to 3 times that, at 63.66miles or 103.13km!! That's an average of 21 lengths at the commie or 41-45 lengths at Glenogle or Leith or Warrender... the pools are all NOT 25m. Some yards and so on. Pleasingly that is bang on as I am in the pool for around 30 mins and it takes me 35-43 seconids to swim a length so bang, my maths is right. Anyway - I'm shifting my Meningitis Efforts to MND for Doddie this month (January) but Inverleith Hockey Club has some sparkling news potentially for overall fundraising in terms of the wonderful Eilidh Neave and her grand family, so keep giving and I'll be in touch soon. xxx At

Well. Covid has come, gone and come again. Christmas is nearly cancelled; its cold, the day got 3 minutes longer today but despite all the rigours of redundancy, welcoming a foreign wife to these shores IN lockdown, forging a new career, no government or employer support, I've not missed a beat on the swimming front. Today was 37 minutes in the Commie for 1250m. Home by 9am for boiled eggs and a fruit smoothie. Tomorrow is Noel's birthday but she knows I cannot miss out on 100. So that's Day 99 and with some form of symmetry Xmas Eve is Day 100. Lang may yer lum's reek folks. Give if you can. xxx Oh, and the picture is me at the top of a volcano in Iceland. Summit. Apex. Top. Thanks Simon for the photo hombre.

Super well... I've joined a group of chaps raising funds for Male Suicide by not shaving. Targeted myself with 200k of different activities aside the normal daily meanders. Day 14 and I'm already 93k through. In the past week that has meant 6 swims in 7 days at both the Commie and the freshly scrubbed, immaculate Gleongle Baths. I hear myself chanting For Eilidh at least thrice per length. I need no motivation as I feeeeel the exercise pushing me to longer life and a greater appreciation of how I control my own winterborne depression. 20% of us lack Vitamin D. People from my neck of the original woods (sri lanka nae surrey) are criminally short of the good stuff. Raising twice over for good causes makes you feel good. And reflecting I see Papa Stu. Big Papa bear to Eilidh's cub remaining who he is, chivvying about taking Inverleith into Europe next year (cancelled for this) and being a patriarch to so many. Whoever your idols, make sure you know they care. We all need a cuddle come mid November. Still to count up but sub 50 days of swimming i am sure I am 35k through my 42.195km target. Whoop whoop. Check my chinstrap...

Wonderfully happy at present. 4 swims in 4 days before today following a hiatus for a trip to Aberdeenshire with Noël and Coco. 4.2km onto the total. Still not totted up but I must be getting close to the magical 42195m target. With 50 odd days to still go. Blessings on you all. Do give if you can. 50,000 covid deaths... but let's not forget those taken by Meningitis... If you fancy donating to another cause you can always pop some coin at Male Suicide Prevention... 6000 men a year in the UK OR WORSE STILL one fella per hour globally. Give if you can. Xxx Smile and encourage if you cannot. https://uk.movember.com/mospace/14325689

Wonderfully happy at present. 4 swims in 4 days before today following a hiatus for a trip to Aberdeenshire with Noël and Coco. 4.2km onto the total. Still not totted up but I must be getting close to the magical 42195m target. With 50 odd days to still go. Blessings on you all. Do give if you can. 50,000 covid deaths... but let's not forget those taken by Meningitis... If you fancy donating to another cause you can always pop some coin at Male Suicide Prevention... 6000 men a year in the UK OR WORSE STILL one fella per hour globally. Give if you can. Xxx Smile and encourage if you cannot. https://uk.movember.com/mospace/14325689

So - Covid19 has stopped me swimming for very close to 6 months. I am so chuffed to say, if you'll excuse the pun, I still remain part man, part fish and things are going well. The new Edinburgh Leisure booking system is a joy. One can only book within the next 48 hours to allow fairness, and a solid memory. The pools I choose are Ainslie Park, local or The COmmie for that extra 25m per length. I'm well ahead of target. So much so I reckon I should be looking to do an ultra-marathon instead which is 35 miles, or 56.33km vs 42.195 so that is my stretch target. Every time I'm in the pool I think of Eilidh at least once per length. It's easy to mutter FOREILIDH when exhaling between arm strokes, gawd love her. Anyway - today is a 630am slot at the commie. Probs another 1.2k, maybe a shade less. I've come a long way (well, about 33k) since I used to wheeze my way to 500m daily. Lang may yer respective lums reek. Arnie xx Here is an image of me in the pool. As you can see, as I do at hockey, cricket and life, i come with a caution.

Day 36 (plus 182). #foreilidh https://eilidh-neave.muchloved.com/Fundraising/Events/270918322 After a brief, nigh on 6 month hiatus, Monday saw the pools reopen again. In that time my lioness @noelsrirangan has swapped the jungles of Paris for Edinburgh (although in our Comely Bank jungle she still sleeps tonight) and I've lost my job, Boris continues to be a plum and laughter remains my go-to attitude. I've also learned a LOT about myself. Cricket has come and gone and hockey is back. Yeehaw. But ooosht, one constant has been there throughout. The fact I am still well shy of completing a swimming marathon #foreilidh and @meningitis_now ... and my lust to return to a pool has never abated. It is with some very great glee I state that on MONDAY I SWAM for the first time in 182 days. I was well ahead of target. Well ahead before covid hit... And well, from the image you will see a swim has allowed my hair to return like it was in the good old days. I reckon it will take 2 weeks for my fish legs to return and I'm back up to the speeds and strength I was reaching back in mid March. I enjoyed it thoroughly and the systems in place for Covid made it a breeze. Everyone was impeccably behaved in and out of the pool and noone caused a stir when the lifeguards had a quiet word or blew some whistle. I'll ease back in, as well, my shoulders felt it after close to 6 months but I hope to be back in daily by mid October. The booking system doesn't allow 530am starts at the Commie but I'll get this done. Give if you can. Or share the link. Or both. Or just wish me well. Xx

So, it's been 3 and a half months since all the pools closed. There are noises coming from here and there that pools may reopen soon. Which I need... And cannot wait for. Mindful of course of the reasons behind these closures, I await patiently. If rumours are to be believed I'll be back in my budgie smugglers on the quest to raise a penny for every metre of a marathon I swim, all 42195 of them or £4219.50.... Pushing my increasingly flabby rig through stuff 90 times more dense than air. All with chronic debilitating arthritis and a hip socket made from ceramic and titianium... In the meantime you can support Inverleith's efforts by sponsoring the mighty Jonny Bower who is well on target to decimate his 1000k run challenge this. Half the year gone and he has already run 800km+ https://eilidh-neave.muchloved.com/fundraising/events/273745818 Or the marathon runners who could not complete the Edinburgh Marathon (due to covid) but nevertheless managed way more than a collective 26 miles on the day the event should have taken place. https://eilidh-neave.muchloved.com/fundraising/events/270474915 For Eilidh, much loved. xx

Unbelievably. The only concern is when not if the pools will close.... As I have alluded to there have been some issues in recording my swim. NO longer as I have taken all my data from (phone / wall calendar / insta / fb and twitter) and popped that in my book of adventures (a gift from the mighty John Penticost way back in 2011 - it seemed fitting the notebook came out of retirement for this) to record things past, present and future when it comes to this fundraising drive. I'll start with yesterday and then go into the maths. Got the 0624am no 29 bus to the Commie. It was shut. Not for the virus. Competition this weekend. I said "Ach well, I'll head back to Glenogle" which is next to where I live remember. Staffer said "don't forget Warrender." And off I went. Grange Road could be shorter. To my shock Marchmont's Victorian Pool was a 25 minute walk away. Always seemed like a 3 minute drive to me. Because well.... It is a 3 minute drive. But that's the fun for me... having the discipline to use public transport to make this happen... This sudden realisation I wasn't locked into Leith Victoria (as yet unvisited), Commie and Glenogle, has now led me to try and swim in every pool in Edinburgh in the remaining 71 days, private pools aside. I'll see if I can gain sufficient social media noise to allow me a free pass to David Lloyd's and Nuffield's just for a swim... Maybe even the One Spa. I've even thought about the Covid-19 breakout and gotten my wetsuit out of its storage in the expectation that sea swimming may have to be a thing. Assuming pools will close. Anyway. Warrender Park is 25 YARDS. I did 40 lengths. That's 914.4m - I have an education thanks and know what a yard is in cm... So I now have to deal with 24.25m when the boom is up at the Commie. 22.8m in Glenogle and Warrender. And 50m with no boom. Upside. Lovely walk through my Newington / Marchmont hood from 1995-98, when I was a pup; a stunning view of the castle on the way out of the pool at 8am from a very quiet Bruntsfield Links and this new pool banter to add to the challenge. Oh and the discovery of the best omelette I've had in a while - La Viola on Lothian Road. Downside: I do not want to be rude but WPkBaths had a cabal of ever so slightly more aggressive elderly women folk. 3 of them were lovely. Just plonked in the pool chatting about Indian loo paper alternatives from an ancient culture.... But 2 others were obviously there first (like 1970 first, not beating me into the pool first!) and no matter what I did, and if they were in my sights at the time, I had to move to avoid a head-on waterborne collision.... This was strangely upsetting. Also the showers are totes public and there is something a tad weird about having a shower two along from another bloke, who is busy washing his asscrack and meat and 2 whilst still in his swimming shorts, less than say 2 yards away from a female life guard and two of said elderly women. One redeeming feature was the size of the cubicles. I'd say almost 50% bigger than Glenogle. You can really spread out, or if you have OCD keep one half of your cubicle dry... which I assume was intentional for those Victorians back in the day with their whopping great dresses. As I meandered home I decided that someone meticulously mathematical could work out the difference between target pace and requirements to swim 42.195km in 100 days vs 'work done' - and that man is Dhiren Naidu. More on that later but I'll leave you with the deliberately badly phrased question I set him later on Friday. My next post will include his answer. Which for the geeky among you will love.

Well, now it begins.... Off to France tomorrow - Can I keep up this level of swimming as I tour around France, England and return to Scotland via 700 miles of road travel? No. Hence me constantly droning on about being ahead of target and my guestimate of needing 500m over 84 days to hit target. But well, it's gone well so far and I've a couple of pool visits lined up in Paris (the image on this post is the 50m rooftop heated pool next to Noel's hooooose) and in Surrey. Big part of my life happening though as at last, some 5 months on from my wedding, my wife Noel has finally been released from her lengthy notice period and is COMING HOME WITH ME!!! Yeeha.... Ps. Swam 28 lengths at Glenogle this morning... x 22.8 is 638.40m

Well. Diary management and recording swims is increasingly a mess. I'm all a tizzy. Getting up is no issue. Recording my swims in the same place is the problem. Saw a client this morning working on his knee very early each morning in his pool. He agrees that the critical thing is just getting in the pool. As soon as we hit the water all is well. We both smile... I cannot stress that enough. However I've not swum once this week and I've the Bill McLaren Dinner on Friday night, with the chaps, so Sat morning is OUT. I'm beginning to think I need a notebook in my swim bag. So that's the play for tomorrow. I'm on target still and today's swim after a late meal after a late finish at hockey last night nearly killed me. Persistent 5-6 hours sleep is beginning to hurt. That and the lighter evenings meaning Coco is keener to stay outdoors, as am I, at night. The true upside is my sore shoulder is only NOT sore in the pool. I'm beginning to fishify I guess. Sorry for the ramble but I'm on the train back from the happy town that is Glasgow. Which was looking resplendent today. Expect a detailed breakdown by Sunday arvo to let you keep track... xxx

Today was a rather samey swim in Glenogle - given that is the 13th day out of 15 I've been pushing myself through a substance 784 times more dense than air. I'll come onto discuss how I get over boredom in the pool. But in brief, I am motivated by a cause and one can think clearly when the simple action of swimming is all you have to consider. More tips another time. How about a quick catch up on why? Meningitis Now is a charity that is striving to save lives and prevent disability through improving prevention and rapid diagnosis. An important aspect of their work is to highlight the impact of meningitis and to support those affected by this deadly illness. These activities require funding, to help others when it is their time of need. So - 800m yesterday at the Commie ( I wanted to catch a bus so didn't float longer than I had to) and only 592.8m today at Glenogle because, if I am honest, I was too busy listening to BBCR4 and cuddling Coco to leave the flat at the right time. If I get to £1300 by Monday I'll have to a) up the distance or b) raise my fundraising target. Give if you can. With my love and thanks.

Too well. It's time to tot up all the lengths and do the maths. Not for my adoring public, but for my own mind. I'm conscious if I lose my phone and or my physical diary I will not be 100% of my distance covered. So before I head to Glenogle this morning, time to do my maths. 1: 500m 2. 500m 3. 33 x 24.25 (boom up) = 800.25m 4. Rest 5. 1000m 6. 15x50m = 750m 7. 30x22.8m = 684m 8. 24x22.8m = 547.20 9. No swim - Commie Closed 10. 52x22.8m = 1185.60m 11. 570m 12. No figures. Oh, hang on, that's today. So - In 11 days including one voluntary and one enforced day off I have covered... 6,537.05m. In 1/9th of the time so x 9 = 59427m. A marathon is UNDER 42km so I am over target by 41%... I'm super happy with this as I have budgeted for a slowdown on the appearance of my wonderful wife in 3 weeks and my time being less my own, funnily enough. Anyway, sod it, I'm off to the COMMIE instead. Photo of my sunrise every morning on the SA Mozam border from 4 years back. Gets me going. xxx

I'm not one for bible stories but I've a busy week ahead and have swum / swam / swom 3 days on the bounce and walked 48,000 steps too. With hockey tonight, tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday and cricket nets on Friday, plus 2 hockey matches to umpire I thought it time I took a morning off. No alarm sounded. Coco stayed calm and I awoke at 644am well-rested. Incidentally, I swapped messages with Eilidh's mum, Ann Marie, last night. How touching that she should thank me for what I am doing. I will always look up to Stu and her for their actions. So it is Day 1 of 16 without a swim of my 100 days. Discipline is key. I am walking more, and eating better and wait for it, I feel stronger. Less moob and a little more solidity hiding away under the surface wobble I sense too.... Go me! Proof I am feeling better. I am naturally and with no misery, eating better. See the image of my lunch. Noone took me ransom when I organised this lunch and I have to say it was a delight. Back in the pool tomorrow morning, and all week.... But both my Achilles have cheered up as today has worn on; perhaps a sign that the final element of a breast-stroke frog-kick isn't great for one's Achilles heel. £500 barrier breached today.... that pays for nearly 17000 symptom cards to be printed out about spotting the early signs of Meningitis or 100 nurseries getting a month's awareness training for their little ones. Give if you can. #foreilidh xx

Day 3 of 100... I'm not sure how to keep the awareness dial up at 11am. So I'm gonna do what I do best. Carpet bomb all social media. Yesterday I swam and meandered 18000+ steps. Ate with the boys at The Antiq and went to The Ferranti Pub Quiz. I was tired and happy and noticed I didn't drink beyond 2/3rds of 1 pint of shandy. A good move. Arose at the usual Coco sallying time... 445am!?!?!?!! Got the 0737 bus to the Commie. Disappointed to see the boom up across the 50m pool. It's a shade under 1.5m but lets stick to calling it 1.5. I wanted to do 700m so set out for 28 lengths. Counting has become easy. I have this Neave Mantra. I say Eilidh, Papa Stu, Ann Marie, Zoe and then the figure of my length... on rotation throughout. Weird. But it works. Anyway. Couple of bams aside I did 33 lengths. At 23.5m which is 775.5m. I suspect I won't swim tomorrow. Important early work call. Coco needs a proper walk to work too. So I need to edge ahead for expected days off. Imagine my amusement when chatting to Inverleith / EA / Magz / Scotland's Chris Duncan and realised 50m-1.5m/2 is 24.25m. Yeeha. So I've accidentally done 800.25... so. 1.8k done in 3 days... Of 42.195. Give. What. You. Can. With my thanks and that of #meningitisnow

Swim for Eilidh Neave. #meningitisnow I cannot run on tarmac. A, I’ve a titanium hip and B, I am a walker not a runner. KD, a shining light in our women’s section has signed my beloved Inverleith Hockey Club to run the Edinburgh Marathon Relay on 24th May. 20 spots filling fast. Atta'KD! Aside from banging the drum I spoke to Tom Barton... who told me to do what I can. I’ve gained weight since getting back behind a desk... despite the 60 min stroll to work. I love swimming. So I hatched a plan... Here it is: 26.2 miles, 100 days to Relay Day, 20 lengths a day is 2000 lengths, Requirement is ONLY 1678 lengths, Which equates to 16 days off, Swim 84 days on the bounce or have 1 day off per week, Commie or Glenogle, Commie guaranteed 50m Glenogle is only 23m so if I’m up early let’s head to The Commie. Day 1 - Valentines Day. Commie. One coffee. Coco only got a pee in the garden before I set off. She won’t like me disappearing for 60-90mins every day. Ach well. First 50m swim length pool visit in a while. Got the 5.49 No. 29 bus. Early glitch leaving goggles in the locker. 10 lengths at 90-110 seconds a go. My leg strength means I much prefer breaststroke to work on the flabbier end of the Sathiy howitzer, my ahem gut and bingo wings. Light stretch and crunches in the pool to finish. Counting lengths is easier with a purpose. Found myself blurting out Eilidh and Stu and Zoe and Ann Marie on exhalation. Kept me going although I didn’t stop or tire. 500m of 42,195m done. Missed the No. 29 back. Walked to Snax by the Meadows and got the 42. Didn’t go into Snax! Plain porridge ahead. If my maths is right I can grab my work clothes and still give Coco a 20+ min stroll and still catch the 8.06 No. 36 down to Leith from opposite Hamilton’s and be at work in plenty of time. Endorphins coursing still. Pulse at 135 at end of swim. Max HR 220-43(age of howitzer)x75%=135. Wow. Fat burn central. Mind you only 20mins in the pool. Still. I’ll walk 10,000 steps too today. Scribbling this on the 42. Side note. Damn. The 07.15 stops on Hanover St. Now on George St seeking the 29 from the North side of Fred. Thrill a minute this business eh! No bus available so let’s add in a 2k walk home. This is Day 1 of potentially 100. As I said yesterday on FB I shan’t apologise. I've flicked up a Just Giving page soon in line with what Inverleith HC are up to and the Eilidh Neave Forever Fund. Give what you can. A little goes a long way. Xx Eilidh and you gorgeous Neaves.