Five years ago, I wanted to do something really unique and it started with wanting to swim a good chunk of – or at least part of – the Great Lakes.
Hence the acronym: Superior, Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie (SHOME).
It conveniently sounded similar to ‘Show me’ or ‘this is what I’m going to do, you tell me what you’re going to do’.
My dream was to encourage people to create their very own version of the ‘Canadian Camino’, a walk, run, swim or other activity that celebrated Canada’s greatness.
Well, it never got anywhere, except for maybe filling the gap where a mid-life crisis was, but I’m happy that I at least did my bit.
I swam the entire length of Lake Okanagan (or Okanagan Lake, as I would be corrected by locals and my family), for a distance of roughly 120km over about 12 days.
Here’s a little summary video from that great ‘vacation’ from five years ago:
SHOME Swim Summary Video from Bill Wittur on Vimeo.
Even though the swim is long since finished and I blew my shoulder in the process and really haven’t swam much since, I’m happy with what I did and will always appreciate the support and effort from my family as I worked to complete this goal.