All in the Family: a Father and Son Ultra-Swim

By

Durjaya Thomas Pliske

Between February 1 and July 2 this year, two Florida men took up a challenge set for lap swimmers by the lifeguards at their local pool, the Boca Raton Swim and Racket Club, to swim the 200 miles between Boca Raton and Key West. The swim was not to be done in the ocean, but as seemingly endless laps in the 25-yard outdoor club pool a few miles from their home outside Del Ray Beach. The swim was to be cumulative, at the rate of several miles each week until the goal of 200 miles was accomplished. For those not familiar with pool distances, 200 miles (324 km.) is exactly 7,040 laps ( 50 yards out and back) or 14,080 individual lengths of the pool.
The swimmers are not what you might expect, experienced lap-swimmers with a specialty in distance. Although both are supporting members of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, Samadhan Michael Jameson, 56, proprietor of a native field tree nursery, and his son Mukut Max Jameson, 12, a seventh grade student at the Randazzo School in Boca Raton, have never run a marathon or done ultra-distance swimming events. Samadhan had never swum over a quarter mile (8 laps) and Mukut had only once done four miles in a pool. In addition to their inexperience in doing distance, Samadhan suffers from multiple sclerosis.
Still, they not only completed this event over a period of five months (131 swim days, averaging 1.527 miles (2.474 km.)/day with individual distances ranging from 1.0 to 4.0 miles (1.62 - 6.48 km.) per day), but they also placed sixth and seventh in a field of 19 competitors, many of whom were seasoned distance swimmers. The original field of 23 was diminished early on as two dropped out daunted by the long-term commitment to complete the event and two others because of the effect of the prolonged exposure to the levels of chlorine necessary as a disinfectant in public pools.
As a good friend of Samadhan and Mukut and also as a veteran distance swimmer myself, primarily ocean swimming in south Florida with a personal longest distance of 10 km. I was fascinated by their determination to do the 200 mile swim and also by how they accomplished it. As they told me about the experiences in their odyssey over the weeks, I asked if I could interview them to share their experience with others. They readily agreed. This article is based on two interviews, both conducted at their home, one near the end of the swim, on 7 June, and a final interview on 17 July, 2005, three weeks after they finished. For the sake of continuity, the interviews are given as a single unbroken dialogue, since there was nothing in their feelings or attitudes to warrant separating them.
As you will see, their swim was done almost entirely without support staff, handlers or cheerers-on as is true for many ultra events. As Mukut told me as we started talking, his mom, Udvashita Sylvia Jameson, came in the early phases of the swim, but when she saw that her son and husband were doing very well and enjoying each other's company so much, she confidently cut her visits to just occasional appearances of encouragement.

Durjaya: You two are making a remarkable swim, 200 miles in an outdoor pool. Let's start at the very beginning, how you heard about the event and what inspired you to want to try it.
Mukut: Well, we go to the Swim Club pool a lot, and one day there was this sign that said….
Samadhan: ….swim from Del Ray Beach to Key West, 200 miles.
Mukut: So I said to my dad, "Why don't we do it?"
Samadhan: And I said, "Del Ray to Key West! You must be crazy!" Then Mukut came right back and said, "No, I want to do it!" It was a cumulative swim, so when we went home we looked at the calendar and discussed how, theoretically, it might fit in with Mukut's school and my hours at the nursery. I don't know what possessed me, but I turned to Mukut and said, "OK let's do it". At the time, I was thinking mainly that it would be a great opportunity for the two of us to have companionship.
Durjaya: Was there any cutoff time by which you had to finish?
Samadhan: There was a sort of deadline, because the lifeguards who arranged the swim perceived the enthusiasm of the people who signed up, so they ordered ten specially embroidered hats for the first ten finishers that had "Boca to Key West Swim" across the brim. That was our main motivation to make the best time we possibly could. We both wanted to have one of those hats and finish together. Right now we are either fifth and sixth or sixth and seventh. I'll have to check next time we swim, but that's pretty good, because the top four swimmers have already finished. We're averaging 9 - 10 miles a week.
Durjaya: So, you decided to do a 200-mile swim. Tell me about your feelings when you went to the pool for the first time.
Mukut: I thought that doing the event would be fun, but also that we would have to complete it. It would be a great accomplishment.
Durjaya: Did you have any doubt that you could complete it, since you had only swum four miles once before?
Mukut: No.
Durjaya: You didn't think about it at all?
Mukut: No, never.
Durjaya: That's absolutely remarkable. How about you, Samadhan?
Samadhan: Mukut has been a constant inspiration to me to stay in this thing at all, and it was his enthusiasm that sparked my interest in the first place. But, one thing that has come about, since I have MS, is my escape from gravity. Gravity isn't a very good friend of mine. I stumble a lot when I walk, and this is cause for a lot of frustration from tripping. Whenever that happens, it is always a complete shock and surprise. But in the water, without that restriction, the resistance of the water is so much less that I feel wonderfully refreshed.
Also, we were so lucky with our pool, which is temperature controlled. When
we started, there were times when it was 50 degrees outside and now in the summer it can be 95, but the pool is always cool and refreshing. Some of the pools don't have this feature, and when it's cold the water is freezing and on hot days, it's like bathwater. Hot water drains you incredibly, but cool water is invigorating.
Durjaya: Yes, I've had that "hot pool" experience many times.
Samadhan: Another strictly Florida aspect to this swim, is that in the summer we have major lightning storms nearly every afternoon. Florida law says that pools have to close at the first sound of thunder and then wait 30 minutes to repoen, so we always had to have an alternate list of pools on hand if we had a storm and be prepared to dash to another pool to get in our laps. Never a dull moment.
Mukut: If it was just raining, we kept on swimming.
Durjaya: were you swimming alone or side by side?
Mukut: Usually side by side in lanes. There were people fooling around in other parts of the pool, but the guards kept lanes open for us serious swimmers. Most of the people in the pool knew what we were doing and there were always lanes available. The guards were very positive as a group, and we know all of them pretty well by now.
Samadhan: And also, the water works its magic on everyone around the pool, so there's not much negativity, even though Mukut splashes the guards a lot. The chlorine has shriveled up all the hair on my arms. Look, just fuzz, but I also have a good tan. So, on the whole the physical environment is a plus, wouldn't you say so, Mukut?
Mukut: Definitely.
Durjaya: I know that you were on your own for the most part, but were there ever any people cheering you on from the side?
Mukut: Well, my mom would come, especially when we were starting out. And sometimes we encouraged the other 200-mile swimmers and they encouraged us.
Durjaya: It sounds like it wasn't a race atmosphere at all, that it was more like climbing a mountain, where the goal is simply to reach the summit or, in this case, to finish.
Mukut: Right, exactly.
Samadhan: For me, I was just as happy that no one was cheering, that no one other than ourselves had expectations, because I enjoyed the solitude and the meditative quality of being in the water.
Durjaya: I'm glad you brought up meditation, because I want to return to this aspect of the swim in a few minutes, but now I want to ask you about your moment-to-moment feelings as you swam. For example, when you had covered, say, 10 of the 200 and there were 190 to go, what was your source of inspiration at that point?
Samadhan: Just to keep going, not to stop. I don't quite know how to describe what that determination really is, just a knowledge that I had to keep going.
Mukut: Yes, just to keep going, and I was thinking also in terms of my own pleasure from just swimming, staying in shape and knowing that I would finish.
Samadhan: Mukut has lost 10 pounds since we started and we haven't changed our eating habits at all. For me the most important inspiration was just being with Mukut, having all this time to spend with him as my companion. And, as I mentioned before, being in the water is very relieving. I may have had difficulties during the day, dealing with people or with the business or other things, and just to get into the water……..I don't know how it is with you Mukut…..but to get out of the pool, get into the truck and drive home is like starting a brand new day. I didn't know spiritually that water had that power, but I've found that it does. It acts like a vehicle for a higher forces to operate and to remove the mental junk and unhappiness that accumulates during the day.
Durjaya: Once again, we approach the spirituality of swimming. Mukut, you came from school to the pool. Did you have experiences similar to you dad's?
Mukut: Yes, I'm tired when I start to swim.
Durjaya: How do you feel when you've finished your laps?
Mukut: When I'm swimming, it gets easier as I go, and when I've finished I'm really relaxed.
Durjaya: I've talked to a lot of people who have done ultra-runs, like the Sri Chinmoy 700, 1000 and 3100 mile runs, where, like your swim, there has to be a commitment of long periods of time and constant exertion, and many people tell me that at a certain point in the experience, they actually gain energy, draw upon an inner source of energy. They feel that something special has opened up inside to energize them and their strength actually increases. Did either of you experience anything like this over the weeks?
Mukut: Yes, when I'm swimming I feel that something inside does open up and urge me to keep going.
Samadhan: One thing that we both found was that the farther we went, the easier it became. For the first time, a couple of days ago, I did four miles; and although I was certainly tired at the end, it wasn't the weariness that you feel doing other long chores. I felt that when I put forth even the least effort to move, I was carried along with an unexpected ease.
Durjaya: What strokes did you use as the mainstays of the swim?
Mukut: I used freestyle most of the time, but I also really enjoyed just kicking.
Samadhan: I alternated freestyle and elementary backstroke, but then last week I tore the rotator cup in my right shoulder, and at the moment I'm limited to kicking only. Sometimes the only way I could swim would be by holding Mukut's feet and kicking,
just to keep going, to make progress. As you know we took one day off each week, but we didn't want to lose any of our swim days even because of injury.
Durjaya: Wow, that means the four-mile day you were telling me about was kicking only? How long did that take?
Samadhan: Four hours.
Durjaya: That's not bad at all for just kicking. I'm impressed.
Samadhan: It was pretty slow, but it was tolerable. Having my very nice companion made it surprisingly easy.
Durjaya: We keep running into the spiritual and meditative aspects of this event, and I know that both of you are meditators. Samadhan, you've been practicing with Sri Chinmoy for over 30 years, and Mukut, you've learned from your mom and dad. Tell me about how your practice has affected your state of mind and your emotions as you swim. Most people would react to a challenge like this with at least some anxiety, trepidation or misgivings, but you two seem to be as poised as if you were having an hour at the beach. You are both so cheerful, positive and determined, despite some problems you've had. Am I seeing the fruits of your mediation here?
Mukut: Let's go back to the inner power we were talking about a little before. I feel that meditation increases the inner power and keeps it going, like a continuous high. For me, that's what keeps me going, meditation.
Samadhan: For myself, it is similar. It helps when I'm swimming. I chant rhythmically but inwardly. This helps me deal with thoughts, thoughts that might urge me to stop if I listened to them or if I feel weak or tired. It helps silence the mind so I can immerse myself in the moment, in swimming. It helps me precisely by eliminating the aspects of myself that would tell me I can't do it.
Durjaya: This is what I have heard from ultra runners, especially where the sense of competition tends to be a stronger factor. Ultimately, some runners are fortunate enough to enter the inner space where you realize you are competing with your own limitations, the state Sri Chinmoy calls self-transcendence. Self-doubt, pain, the unrelenting physical activity, the boggling distance, the sense of competing with others, all disappear into the moment of running, or in your case, swimming. As you've said, they haven't perhaps disappeared altogether, but they are pushed into a small corner of your consciousness.
Samadhan: The mediation and spiritual focus of the swim have simply removed the "I can't" attitude from the picture, allowing me to just do it.
Durjaya: So, being in the moment is a tangible experience for you?
Mukut/Samadhan (simultaneously): Yes.
Durjaya: Speaking now in mid-July, with the swim behind you, what did you gain, in what ways have you grown as a result of what you've accomplished?
Mukut: I think I gained the knowledge that I could do it, and that other kids my age, or even younger, could also do it.
Samadhan: I'm really impressed with Mukut's capacity. There were times through the course of the swim that were difficult. Getting in the water when it was 50 degrees, windy and raining took a lot. Each of us gave a lot of strength to the other. I've noticed that Mukut wanted to take a little time off after the 200 ended, but we've promised each other to swim at least half a mile a day. If I'm swimming without my partner, I've observed how hard it is to keep going without him being there. That was a beautiful result of the experience, the partnership that developed between us throughout the swim and the strength that we have together.
Durjaya: This is such an inspiring discovery. Recently, my wife, Drishti, served as personal handler to Lunthita Duthely who ran the Sri Chinmoy 700-miler in New York last fall. They also developed the feeling and experience of oneness, a merging into a single, shared effort, each taking different but indispensable roles for the other. It took both women to make the event a success.
Samadhan: Another thing I've discovered is the mantric nature of swimming. I usually breathe every three strokes. To chant OM or SUPREME through the course of the strokes wouldn't make my swim any shorter, but it would take away the concept of the passage of time, the worry and the tiredness. Instead, it was that I had to be aware that the end of the lane was coming up so that I could make my turn. I was in another world beforehand and with the brisk resistance of the water, it was exhilarating.
Mukut: I found myself chanting also, and I prayed.
Durjaya: Sri Chinmoy always tells people doing ultra events, or any activity for that matter, to remain happy and cheerful. Did you draw on your meditation practice to remain cheerful. Did you visualize positive outcomes before you swam?
I'm sure you know the old expression, "As above, so below."
Samadhan: For me it was almost the opposite. During the swim I found that I entered into a meditative state more easily than during my usual morning meditations. I derived more energy and more benefits just by swimming than I would have received otherwise.
The wonderful refreshing feeling of the water led to an inner understanding that water and meditation are deeply connected. After I left the pool, as I have said, I felt cleansed, happy and peaceful, and these are the hallmarks of a good meditation.
Durjaya: When you were finishing, on your last laps, what were you feeling then?
Mukut: I was unhappy that I was finishing.
Durjaya: You wanted to keep going?
Mukut: Yes.
Samadhan: It was more fun to be at the 190-mile mark than to be at the last mile, to be close to the end but not at the end and have it be over. It's a wonderful thing to have that part of the day where you know you're going to swim a mile and a half or three miles.
It was so nice to spend so much time with my son, Mukut.

Not long after the swim, the father and son team challenged one another to a mini-event that both of them enjoy. They decided to try to break their standing sit-up records. They succeeded! Samadhan improved from 1333 to 1399, and Mukut reached his next level by bettering 1377 to 1400. When I called them a couple of days ago to get a couple of final details for this article, I couldn't reach either one on their cell phone. Reason? They were at the pool doing a three-mile swim together.

21 July 2005

This page was last updated:  September 23, 2005 9:16