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Marco Swims the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Swim

By Marco Baldan

Help jij mij om mijn doel te behalen?

Help mij mijn doel te bereiken!

Raised

€2.027

My Goal

€2.023

Select amount to donate

€20
a financial "push" for accelerating cancer research
€30
an incentive for talented researchers to find new solutions for cancer
€50
a contribution that creates extra opportunities for groundbreaking research ideas
€75
a contribution that creates extra opportunities for groundbreaking research ideas

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My Activity Tracking

0
kms

My target 27kms

My Achievements

Zelf een eerste donatie gedaan

Pagina gedeeld op social media

Blog bericht geschreven

Profielfoto toegevoegd

Streefbedrag gehaald

Streefbedrag hoger dan €500

Team gemaakt

Eerste 5 donaties binnen!

My Updates

10 days to go

Wednesday 26th Jul
In 10 days I am going to swim in Lake Zurich.

WHY
Because: 
I love open water swimming
I want to collect fund for cancer research
My father would have turned 70 this year and I think it is a great way to remember him (he died of cancer in 2012)

WHAT 
From 7am on August 6th I'll swim from Jona to Zurich, assisted by my friend Martin and by a member of the organization. Without wetsuit and non stop, feeding breaks excluded.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
1. By donating here

The money will go to a Dutch organisation called Swim to Fight Cancer. Their goal is to beat cancer by raising funds for talented doctors and researchers that work on life changing research every day.

2. By sharing this message within your networks. When it comes to gathering money for a good cause, I am shameless. So should you!

On the day of the swim I will create a WhatsApp group so that Martin will be able to send reminders to anybody who is interested. Let me know if you want to be part of it.

Peace 
Marco 💙🤍

P.S. I have also been writing about the preparation for the swim. Visit my blog if you want to know more at marcobaldan.net/blog

I have a simple plan. Introduce the work I do and raise money. By swimming 27K in one day.

Monday 5th Jun
The plan is simple and twofold: tell you something more about who I am and what I do and raise money for cancer research.
By providing you with insights about the kind of preparation I do to swim a very long distance and the kind of work I do, I want to collect at least 2023 euros by the beginning of August.


THE PLAN

I will post several times in the next 9 weeks and tell a bit abimiut the kind of preparation I do while also finding inputs to describe the work I do.

A SHORT INTRO

I have been what the Dutch call a Waterrat (literally an aquatic rat, intended as a water loving being) from my early childhood.

Although personal memories of early childhood always end up being mixed up with the events as recounted by others, from my youngest age I loved playing with, floating in and swimming in the WATER of my parents´ bathtubs, sink, as well as of the seasides around the Venetian lagoon.

My first swimming class happened in spring 1985 with a swim instructor called Principe (Prince): I confidently answered his request to demonstrate how to dive into the swimming pool, only to realize way too late that the buoyancy effect of chlorine water was not as good as that of the salty waters I was accustomed with. Yet, I was only shortly scared and was ready for the next jump.

In the following 38 years, I struggled to understand what a vital part of my life swimming was. It took many swimming classes, years of training in an actual swimming team, phases of denial about how much I loved it, followed by spells in the Mediterranean Sea to feel compelled to swimming all over again.

By 2008 (and in Berlin by then) when confronted with a stressful time, I had to consider what to do to balance the pressure: swimming was back in my life for good.

Quite soon did the pool feel limited though. The idea of an endless swimming, deprived of flipturns, in combination with the beauty and accessibility of the lakes around Berlin/Brandenburg became evident and enticing day by day.

Now, more than a decade later, in a different country (partially under the sea level btw), I am eventually reconciled with one passion.

So it is about time to make something out of it. Something that goes beyond my own pleasure. Which is why I registered for the Sri Chinmoy Marathon-Schwimmen 2023 in Zurich.

What is the Sri Chinmoy Marathon-Schwimmen?
The event is a 27k long swim through Zurich Lake, a fantastic area of turquoise water of best quality, surrounded by what I can only define as one of the most beautiful European landscapes.

What to do on August 6 2023
Swim 27km from Jona to Zurich. Without a wetsuit and without touching the boat or going on land.

Why I want to do it
My father would have turned 70 this year. He died almost 11 years ago. Of cancer.
It only makes sense to me to empower those who can find cures in the best way we can. For me it means promoting my attempt.

PLANNING FOR SUCCESS

Sometimes success stories are told as if they happened only because of a sudden moment of luck, or a fortuitous combination of events, as if an idea fell from the sky to become profitable.

Do not get me wrong, inspiration is key and luck never hurts any endeavor. Yet, telling a success story this way often misses a vital aspect.
Success largely depends on our ability to programme and adjust. For the foreseeable and the unknown.

I started training for this swim in October 2022. I dragged myself to the pool in good and bad weather (or physical) conditions. I assessed my current shape, considered some dietary adjustments, and reinstated a digital working sheet where I log the distances I swim, the sensation and thoughts that occur.
The new swimming habits hurt in the beginning. And helped me realize that I was out of shape (and older).

Additionally, discussed at length with my partner what the prolonged training would have implied for weekly routine, our family life ( we have two small children) and the summer holidays in 2023. Seldom is our plan something that can be achieved in solitude.

Had I not done it, I would not be here today talking about it, confident that I will pull it off.

What planning means to me

Planning is to me an intellectual activity by which you (a team, a family or else) establish what you need to be able to understand, define, and deliver by certain points in time. Roughly.
I am no fan of too detailed of a plan. And yet, every endeavor requires successive (in terms of time and logic) steps. These seldom happen at the same moment. To define them, you need to visualize (or at least gain a rough idea of) what must be done, with whom and for whom. With which resources and by when.

How I shape my game plan

More specifically, and back to my L&D stuff, I normally ask a whole lot of questions to all stakeholders I get to talk to. And attend events where end users are present.
I put myself in the most open mindset I can reach, where chaos looks at moments the most appropriate description of the scribbles, notes and references I have made. I try to see every input as valuable, formal and informal talks, documentation, reports and else.

In L&D it is vital to understand WHOM the product is for and HOW MUCH RESOURCES are available.

In my experience, L&D suffers from an overexposure to flashy slogans and trending buzzwords and an oversimplification of the resources (time and money) needed to create compelling content that remains relevant in time.
The actual target audience and the L&D team itself are those who are mostly penalized if there is not clarity on those points.

If you want to be serious about the work you do, you need to bring to the table the notion of a solid working plan and defend it when needed.
What you want to defend are not the specifics of the plan, rather the notion that a plan must be there. Adjustable, questionable, inspirational.
It does not matter if it is bottom up, top down, team or else. It is going to help either way.

Be vocal about these aspects when you kick off your next project and you will not regret it.

In a week the second installment of my journey about how to train for cold weathers ( in actual and figurative terms).
Bedankt voor jullie bijdrage!

€101

Manfred Schön

Ich hoffe es kommt an. Guten Rutsch ins Jahr 2024. Manfred

€31

Christina Galandi

€101

Nanni Kurth

€21

Anonymous

Ha Marco, Heel veel succes met het bereiken van je doel. Dit is een bijzondere manier om in te zetten voor een goed doel!

€21

Henk Van Den Akker

Mooi! Sterkte en Plezier! Groet, Henk, vriend van Jelle, je buurman

€31

Giorgio Polpetta

DAJE MARCO!!!

€11

Jeanne En Harrie Fiers

Succes Marco!!

€31

Anonymous

Succes

€51

Kathleen Tescari

Complimenti, bellissima iniziativa. Vai così

€31

Silvia Comiati

Forza Marchetto!

€151

Lisa Kleeven

Go go go! We think of you! Kusjes from Amsterdam

€11

Sheena Ms Bassett

Good luck Marco!

€21

Bart En Ruth

Veel succes Marco! 🐟

€21

Anonymous

€51

Alexander Von Freeden

Go Marco!

€31

Ruben En Marijke

Zet 'm op Marco!!!

€201

Anonymous

€16

Jelle De Graaff

zag jou laatst met jouw kinderen in een plastic waterbadje. Wat een energie had jouw zoontje. Nu begrijp ik het na jouw bijzondere verhaal. Just do it

€11

Esther Van Zutphen

Zet ‘m op Marco. Successo!

€20

Marleen

Succes Marco!

€31

Anne Roberts

Good luck Marco. A great challenge and worthy cause. Take good wishes from Feldberg with you.

€5

Marleen Van Veen

€6

Michelle Ouwerkerk

Heel veel succes Marco!!

€30

Stefan Paeck

Lieber Marco, ich wünsche Dir viel Erfolg für dein Vorhaben. Du bist top vorbereitet und wirst es meistern.

€51

Bart Lange

Veel succes!!

€51

Marina

€31

Eric Kleeven

Knap dat je dit weer doet, veel succes en ook plezier natuurlijk. Gr. Lion en Eric

€11

Anonymous

Veel succes! Mooi dat je dit aangaat.

€21

Anonymous

Good luck!

€21

Dorien & Chiel

Zet hem op, Marco!

€31

Annelene Damen

Marco, Wat een prachtige en bijzondere uitdaging ga je aan. We zullen aan je denken op 6 augustus.

€31

Daniela Alzetta Boschian

Grazie per questa bella e utile iniziativa!

€21

Marc En Martine De Kinderen

Succes Marco!

€51

Martin Kurth

you'll make it !!!

€21

Kitty Collette

€11

Mark Aalten

Heel veel succes Marco.

€20

Anonymous

€21

Stefanie Van G.

Best of luck, Marco! What a beautiful initiative 💙

€16

Anonymous

Heel veel succes, zet hem op.

€21

Becky Allen

Good luck Marco. Have a great swim for such a good cause. We'll be thinking of you x

€51

Matteo Giancristofaro

Ciao Marco, complimenti per l'iniziativa! un abbraccio

€51

Anne & Wouter Roeters-mensink

Hoi Marco, Heel mooi dat je dit doet, vooral ook in relatie tot je vader. Heel veel succes! Anne & Wouter

€11

Anonymous

Heel veel succes!! Roger, Markies, Finn en Liz

€15

A

€31

Saskia

Veel succes, Marco.

€51

Theo En Carla Kleeven

Heel veel succes, Marco 💪

€31

Sebastiaan & Janneke

Good luck!

€30

Jacopo

<3

€21

Anonymous

Toitoitoi marco

€101

Adrian And Alexandra

Good luck Marco!

€101

Sheena Kinmond

Go Marco!

€51

Marco Baldan

€21

Ralu Barbu

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