Chicago Woman Swims in Lake Michigan For 24 Hrs to Raise Money

Swimmer Marian Cardwell just did something pretty incredible. She swam in Lake Michigan for 24-hours to raise money for diabetes research. She swam for The Chicago Diabetes Project (CDP), a type 1 diabetes research foundation. But her 24-hour swim was actually plan B.

Originally Marian planned on swimming from Chicago, across Lake Michigan, to New Haven, Michigan. Which would be the longest unassisted open water swim, and may take about 70 hours of nonstop swimming. But she's not abandoning that dream, she's just pushing that swim to August of 2021 for the safety of her and her team. 

But like everything right now, COVID forced Marian to change her plans. Instead of her cross-lake swim, she swam for a full day, non-stop, along the Wilmette coastline in Lake Michigan. And she completed 24 hours!

Just check out how happy she was afterwards -

How do you even prep for something like this? Turns out Marian has been swimming this route every day for the last several months. I can't lie, the water looks pretty amazing to swim in -

And this isn't Marian's first charitable swim. Marian Cardwell, previously swam across the English Channel in 2012. She crossed the channel in 12 hours and 20 minutes.

I'd consider swimming for 24-hours straight a success in itself, but to add to that amazingness, she raised more than $10,000 for the Chicago Diabetes Project.

Can't wait to see what she does in August 2021!

H/T UPI