EITM interviews Katie Pumphrey

EITM interviews Katie Pumphrey

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, good morning. Hey.How are you. I'm doing all right?
How are you? I am doingexcellent? Well. First of all,
congratulations, man, that is awesome. Thank you. Yeah, I'm
pumped. The Are you in anypain? Still? So much? So
much pain? Yeah? Are youreally very uncomfortable? Oh yeah, I
feel every single one of those miles? Hey, Katie, was it was

(00:26):
it? I guess now that you'vehad, now that you've had a little
bit of time to kind of digesteverything, was it what you thought it
would be? It was so muchmore magical? It was. It was
a beautiful swim. You know,the sunrise over the bay was absolutely gorgeous.
There were Marylanders out on the shorewith signs and voters came out and

(00:50):
said hi in the early mornings.And then as we got closer and closer
to Baltimore, there are more peopleout on the shores, more people out
on the water. And then finishinginto Harbor Place with you know, hundreds
of people lining the shore was justthe most magical experience I've ever had.
You know, I was gonna Iwas gonna ask you that later, but
I'll do that now. Were youwere you surprised at the turnout of people

(01:11):
because like obviously, you know,like we're just seeing it on TV and
kind of following along online and seeingyou know, kind of tracking you and
seeing where it was. But whenyou when you kind of got into the
Harbor, the the the amount ofpeople that were there, like screaming and
cheering and stuff. And I meanthis with no disrespect, I didn't expect
the turnout to be like that atall. Yeah, I mean I definitely

(01:36):
hope there would be people. Iwas inviting people to the finish, and
I obviously was hoping that I wouldalso be at the finis. Luckily I
got there, but yeah, Baltimoreshowed up. I mean it was it
was Yeah. I mean I therewere several tiers of absolute joy and pride
of my city, and I meanit's just unbelievable. Hey, So,

(02:00):
Katie, let me ask you this. The like, you know you're gonna
swim, You're gonna start it inthe bay and you're you're obviously gonna make
it into Baltimore in the harbor.What what what time did you What time
did you start? I know it'slike three something, but what time did
you get going? Yeah, soit took a little longer for us to
leave the marina, which which justyou know what happens one of those things.

(02:20):
So I my official start time wasthree nineteen in the morning. Is
it hard to start? You knowwhat I mean? Like it's it's the
middle of the night, it's pitchblack, You're out in the middle of
the bay, and like at somepoint you gotta go, like, Okay,
I guess I'll get in the waternow. Like to me, it
seems like like starting would be thehardest part. I definitely wouldn't put it

(02:43):
at the hardest part, but Iwas. I was way more nervous than
I have been for other swims.It's been a while since I was quite
that nervous. But my crew wasreally supportive. My husband was amazing and
you know the boat Freedom Boat Clubthat provided support. They got me into
shore as close as close as theycould. So I just kind of slipped
off the back of the boat,which was about two and a half feet

(03:06):
of water so it was pretty close, and swam into into the shore,
touched the jetty rock jetty there rightnext to the bridge, and took thirty
seconds to kind of gather myself andthen and then went off. So I
honestly once I got in the water, I thought a lot more relaxed.
How long does it take to notlike the thirty seconds of like now I'm

(03:28):
in the water and like like,oh okay, this is comfortable I swim,
But what is the like how longdoes it take to get into because
you knew you were going to beswimming for a while. How long does
it take to get into a groovethough where it's like okay, now I'm
like now I'm going yeah, Alot, a lot longer this time than
I think maybe some other swims.The several hours of darkness in the morning,

(03:52):
I feel like I kind of Iwould find a rhythm for like a
minute, and then I'd lose it. The it was it was really hard
to see. But my my,my support. They did a great job
wearing glow sticks, and my kayakerhad a had a headlamp on, which
was great, but every time itwould move every time you eat. My
brother Chris, he was the firstkayaker, every time he would turn his

(04:14):
head it kind of made a shadowin the water, which you know,
when you're swimming at three am inblack, you know, darkness. That
definitely made my imagination go pretty wild. So I have relaxed hard time relaxing,
so it wasn't you know. Ieventually found a rhythm. I swallowed
a lot of baywater in that darkness. Well, you know what the good

(04:35):
news is, it's all so clean. It's all clean, so you're good
to go. Hey, did youYeah? I'm feeling all right on that
front. Does your does your mindwander at all while you're going? Or
is it like, do you likeyou always hear like people who go like
I have a runners high And nowI mean, obviously listen, you've you've
done marathon swims before, whether it'sthe English Channel or around Manhattan or whatever

(04:58):
it is. But does your doesyour mind as you're kind of going?
Does your mind wander at all?Yeah? Definitely, And that was actually
by the time the sunrise came up, I was feeling a lot more like
in a rhythm, and the colorswere just amazing. I asked my niece
Naev to write down a few colorsfor me. I was so I was
kind of brainstorming a giant painting andworking on so that was really nice in

(05:20):
the morning. Later this weem especiallywhen when it got a lot tougher and
the current was against me into thepotasco my I feel like my mind kind
of goes a little more blank andI'm just like uber focused on what I'm
doing and my support summers like Idid Megan and Sarah. They were amazing,
So especially towards the end. Meganwas the last last support summer in

(05:45):
and maybe it may be like amile and a half from the finish,
and we were just like locked inrhythm, almost making eye contact the whole
time. And for that I wasjust like so focused at what she was
doing and not having any thoughts.So that was great. So there were
times where there were like there werehelicopters flying overhead and tracking you, and
I mean the news coverage and everything. There are times that I would like

(06:06):
see you and you were swimming andI was like, well, first of
all, how freaking long has shebeen doing this? But it looked it's
just you know, it's one armand then the other arm and then one
arm in the other arm. Butit looked like you were in the middle
of nowhere, Like you look likea dot in the water, just swimming.
And I look at and I golike, I know where she's going,

(06:28):
and you can track it and seewhere she's going. But oh my
god, did it seem like youwere lost in the middle of nowhere?
Yes? Yes, especially like thestretch from the key Bridge into Fort McHenry
that was the kind of roughest water. The wind was picked up a little
bit and the current was kind ofthe strongest against me, and I really
tried not to look forward because itcan be so deceiving and like heartbreaking to

(06:53):
not see to like you're seeing land, but it is not getting any closer.
And I kept popping my head upand asking my crew, like,
I'm moving right, We're getting somewhere, Joe my head. I was like,
yes, rastley moving or crushing ityou go. I was like,
I don't know about that, butwe'll see. I just like that.
You've got you. You've got fortyfive like other swimmers, forty five like

(07:15):
support people, and poor you,you're doing the whole thing all by yourself.
They were wonderful though. They Theywere cheering, you know, making
jokes a lot of hand signals andfun. My husband was dancing a lot.
You know. I think they justthey did such a great job,
you know, kayaking and cheering andkeeping my spirits high. And they were

(07:38):
just absolutely wonderful. Hey, Katie, when we talked a couple of weeks
ago, we talked about what itwas going to be like to go swimming
by the Key Bridge. Yeah,how was it? It was? It
was pretty powerful, It was prettyintense, you know, kind of leading

(08:00):
up to it. That was kindof another spot that the you know,
the Key Bridge, like all ofwhat you can see, you know,
it was so much higher in thewater, so it really looks like it's
not getting anything closer. And soby the time I finally got there,
and that was just also a momentI've been thinking about for decades. And
then obviously it's a little, youknow, a lot different than than what
I envisioned. And so I alwaysswim backstroke under bridges. I think a

(08:22):
lot of a lot of water swimmersdo. It's just really cool to kind
of look up and see see spans, and we did. We did swim
under a remaining part of the span, right at kind of the last one.
So I swam backstroke. I'm lookingup and you know, I see
what's what's left of the bridge overmy head and then to my left was

(08:43):
was just open and as the sunkind of disappeared, behind the span and
that was in its shadow. LikeI mean, I I just was sobbing
and and and that caught me offguard. I was. I knew I'd
get emotional, but I mean Iwas, I was really crying, which
swimm extra qual well prying. It'sdefinitely challenging. But then the sun kind

(09:05):
of you know, creep back outand and uh turned back over and kept
going to Baltimore. So it wasit was pretty awesome, pretty powerful.
Hey, Katie, were you wereyou surprised at the amount of not press
from around here, right, butwere you surprised at the international press that
started covering it? Yeah? Imean I definitely was hoping that this,

(09:28):
you know, would go far andand really show how awesome Baltimore is,
you know and champion women and girlsin sports and you know, this weird
sport of marathon swimming. But yeah, it's been it's been amazing. I've
gotten messages from swimmers all over theworld, and the press that's that's been
out and the number of stories thatare out there is just, yeah,

(09:50):
beyond beyond what I would have everdreamt and and expected. You know,
it's definitely a weird sport to follow. It's you know, it's your following
a dot. And I'm sure youknow for people falling along, like that's
an interesting way to way to followthe sport for such a long time.
But I'm absolutely blown away and trulyjust like honored with the sport. Hey,

(10:11):
and this may this may be abad question, but like how long?
How long? I like you saidyou got in at three nineteen?
What was the official time of theend it was? That took a question.
I actual don't remember when it's thirteenhours fifty four minutes, so whatever
that right before five? I guessthirteen Jesus Christ, that is. I
mean, it's unbelievable to think thatyou were swimming that long. Hey,

(10:35):
did you did you have to likepee at all while you were swimming?
Oh? Absolutely, work roughly.I mean I pretty much pee every half
hour, which so that's a bigway to you know, make sure that
you're hydrated. So I also hadto know I was reporting that to my

(10:56):
entire crew, So every time Ibeat, I'd be like, I'm peeing
right now. So we'd make alot of jokes about My friend Jephanie was
like, we're making eye contact whileyou're peeing. This is a bonding moment.
If I do my math right,you peed twenty four times in the
middle of your trip. I hopeI did. Yeah, yeah, I
was my Yeah, my career.They were really I mean, the water

(11:16):
was it was hot. It wasthe hottest I've ever felt on a swim,
and that was definitely one of thebig challenges. So they did a
great job making sure I was drinkingenough enough water and you know, I
had electrolytes and you know, Phydration is is no joke and I don't
want to mess with that. AndI've been drinking PD light ever since.
So uh yeah, definitely. Youknow, if you if you struggle to

(11:41):
pee, that's like a sign thatyour kidneys are starting to have issues.
So I definitely definitely pete a lot, which was great. Hey did you
what do like when when you weredone and you got home and I'm sure
you were, like you said,you're still sore this morning and could feel
it, but like when you're done, like do you just get to like
you could crush food whatever you want. Yeah, well it's it's kind of

(12:03):
your body is like what just happened? So I struggled, I had like
struggled to stand a lot more thanI have. I think that was a
large part to do the heat.So I did, Like maybe a couple
hours later, I ate something Icrushed, an Ecubus sandwich, which was
great because they were handing them outthe finish and I was looking forward to
it. So I had. Ihad a big big bottle of pedialyte and

(12:28):
and a neighborhood bird sandwich from ecubenIt was awesome, you know, good
for you, Good for you.So now that you're done with Beta Baltimore,
the bit of Baltimore swim, likedo you like, do you look
at that and go, Okay,I'm good for a while, or because
like you said, that's your sport, you're an ultra mar and I know
you're an artist and like you said, you're working on a new project and
all of that, but like,do you do something like that and go,

(12:50):
you know what, I'm good fora while? Like this one was
more than just hey I want togo see if I could swim the English
channel, Like this one meant somuch more to you than that one than
those did. Are you good fora while or does this kind of energize
you to go? All right?What can I do next well, I
think I'm definitely going to lean intothe energy I feel. You know,
a lot of swimmers have also reachedout about you know, hey, I

(13:11):
want to attempt this next year,so I'm starting to put teing things together
to how I could help summers dothe bait at Baltimore Swims for me.
I actually am. I'm headed toCalifornia in just four weeks to swim the
Catalina Channel. So this is theclosest I've ever had two swims together and
Kyleena I did in twenty eighteen,so I'm very excited to revisit it,

(13:31):
but very interested to see how recoveryand resting for that ghosts because right now
I can't lift my arms. Bythe way, I love the idea though,
that if this turns into like yousaid, like other swimmers swimmers excuse
me, or reaching out, ifthis turns into like Katie Pumphrey's annual event,

(13:56):
dude, that would be awesome,right. Yeah, I mean,
I think you know, open waterswimming is coming to both fromore and more
and more. So this is athis is the beginning of a lovely thing
that's great. Good for you,Katie. I was so happy, and
I listen. I know we onlytalked once before you did it, but
I followed along. I was sohappy. I was so proud of you,

(14:16):
but I was so happy for youto to to be able to have
gotten that done. I know whatit meant to you. So that's awesome.
Good for you. Thank you somuch. So I'm just I'm blown
away with all of it. Thishas been a wonderful and wild week just
just unbelievable. And to anybody that'sgoing to be out like this weekend in

(14:37):
the in the bay, just rememberKatie pe like crazy in that water.
I did all right, Katie,Hey, listen, I appreciate it.
Congratulations again, good for you,Thank you so much. This was wonderful
to talk to you.