Estero Bay Attempt

This weekend I swam 8 hours, 11 statute miles in 53-55 degree water. I was planning on swimming 9/10 hours, 14 statute miles in 58-59 degree water. This was the first time where I was pulled out of a swim, the swim is called Estero Bay. Estero Bay is unexplored water; only one person has done the swim before. I was really excited to swim it because I would have been the first women and youngest person to complete the swim. Starting off I felt good, strong swimming. I was cold in the beginning, but I tried to swim faster, hoping that I could generate my own heat.  After first hour I asked to switch to warm feeds so I could try to get warmed by drinking hot chicken soup. The whole time I felt pretty good, but towards hour 6 and 7, I was getting really tired. My legs were hurting a lot and I was also feeling cold. I knew that I had 4 miles remaining and wanted to push through the pain and the cold. The last hour I just wanted to be done as soon as possible. My crew considered my slowed speed, the cold water, and current pushing against me, and decided to pull me out of the water. Safety always comes first, and my crew believed that pulling me was the safest option. I am glad that they took action before anything bad could have happened to me. The biggest lesson that I learned from the swim was that I am not invincible, and there will be time where I will have to stop my swim. I am going to do this swim again in September, and hopefully with my extra training and (cross my fingers) better conditions, I will be able to complete it!