Profile: Diddo Clark
Nellie Degnan
Posted online: Tuesday, 01 September 1987
The obsession with swimming started when Diddo Clark drank too much coffee in law school. When she swam, she needed less sleep and had more energy, without the jittery side effects of caffeine. The more she swam, the better she felt, until "it was like the tail wagging the dog," she said.
Clark participated in her first marathon swim-28 nautical miles around Manhattan Island-five years ago. She said she would not have been able to complete the swim if she had not believed wholeheartedly in herself. "I felt like the little engine that could-I think I can."
"I'm not a terrific swimmer," she said, "For me, marathon racing is 80 percent mental." Both Clark's mental and physical abilties were pulled into paly in h er swims around Manhattan. By her third swim, she improved her time by two hours and 45 minutes, becoming the first woman to complete the swim in less than seven hours.
Aside from mental preparation, one of the most important ways she prepares for successful long distance swimming is to acclimate herself to the cold water.
"Before my third Manhattan swim I sat in my bathtub, added ice cubes and read magazines for a half hour at a time," remembered Clark.
The cold, dark water of San Francisco Bay had scared Clark away from swimming in it until she was in her 30s. Then she discovered the members of the South End Rowing Club who swam in the Bay every day despite temperatures of 40 to 60 degrees. Clark now finds Bay swimming to be an exhilarating experience.
One of her favorite swims is the 1.4 miles between Alcataz Island and San Francisco. She has done it 20 times. The rowing club sponsors two Alcatraz races a year, one in the fall, and one on New Year's Day. "When I see an island I want to swim to it." she said. |
- Georgetown Magazine
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