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Last July my friend Verity swam Lake Windermere, a distance of 10.5 miles. On the day of the swim I was at work, but Verity was wearing a GPS tracker. I recall checking the tracking website periodically to see how she was doing. After 4 hours and 55 minutes she came in, victorious.

The next month, I developed Transverse Myelitis, in the space of a day my legs went from working to being weak and numb. Thankfully, my case was mild and within a couple of months I had made a full recovery. Only one third of people make a full recovery, one third of people make a partial improvement, and one third of people make no improvement at all. The physios I saw recommended swimming as a way of helping to build strength back up in my legs again.

On 3 November, I became a member at my local pool. On 4 November, I started swimming… and haven’t stopped. Initially I started off with breaststroke, and then a bit of front crawl. I went from kind of knowing Verity and having some mutual friends to seeing Verity at the pool every day. My front crawl technique was rather dubious, and I knew I was in danger of wrecking my shoulders. Verity recommended a coach to me.

Gradually my stroke improved and I graduated from the slow lane, to the medium lane. I felt like I’d won a gold medal when I was able to keep up with other people in the slower of the two fast lanes. (At present, I am dividing my time between the Slow Fast Lane and the Ver(it)y Fast Lane.)

Before our swims each morning Verity and I would commiserate about our respective early starts, but encourage each other on. She patiently answered many of the questions I had, and I had many! Were swimming hats at the pool compulsory? When was the best time to swim? Where could I buy funky hats and brightly coloured swimming costumes? What’s the point of a kick board and pull buoy? What do you do with your wet swimming stuff when you arrive at work? Where can I buy prescription goggles? How do I stop my goggles from steaming up? Should I be doing any kind of warm up/cool down stretches? You get the picture.

As our friendship grew, Verity told me more of her story. She had started swimming a few years ago, and initially used to only swim breaststroke. Gradually she gained confidence and started to do front crawl. She started to do swims for charity. In 2012, she was an olympic torch bearer. And all the while Verity was so willing to share advice and kept on encouraging me. I carried on thinking to myself, if she can do it… So can I!

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This morning my alarm went off at 4.50am. A couple of weeks ago, Verity had asked if I would mind supporting her on a 5 hour swim. I said I would be delighted to so. At 5.25am Verity picked me up from my house and she drove us down to the lake.

Just before 6am, Verity bounded into the lake and swam, and swam, and swam. The swim lasted for 5 hours, and was around 16km, or 10 miles. During that time I sat on the side of a jetty while she came in to drink and eat. Verity was on the dolly mixture. I was on the sausage butties. I have had a chesty cough and been a bit snotty this week. Although I brought my swimming stuff with me, I decided to Be Sensible and take a rest day. I ended up talking to other swimmers – they tend to be a really friendly bunch. I felt really bad when I missed Verity’s last drink/dolly mixture feed. I was too busy talking to the organisers of Oxford Lock-to-Lock series and not keeping my eye the person I was there to support. Ooooops! Throughout the swim, Verity was in good spirits and excellent humour.

This year Verity is attempting to do a two-way Windermere swim. That’s 21 miles! She’s raising money for Mind, and hoping to bring the total she has raised for Mind to £15,000.

I doubt I would have entered the This Girl Can competition if Verity hadn’t taken the time to share her knowledge and expertise with me. I’d probably have cancelled my membership to the pool and gone back to thinking that this swimming malarkey is for other people. Nothing can be further from the truth. If Verity can do it, then so can I, and so can you.