Is Diana Nyad Jewish?

No, as best as we can determine, endurance swimmer Diana Nyad is not a Jew.

She is one tough and determined woman. And she is an inspiration to us all to persevere. Even after having to abandon her goal to swim in open waters 103 miles from Cuba to Key West Florida several times, first more than thirty years ago, most recently this summer, she has returned to the water to try again. Her blog is here.

We identify so strongly with Dina Nyad because we swim about 300 miles a year. True, we don't swim 103 mile open water courses from Cuba to Florida all at once. We swim in a pool, one mile a day. And yes, we are just a few months younger than Diana.

Diana claims at age 62 to be in the best shape of her life. What an inspiration. And we mean this personally. Diana set a goal years ago and could not reach it. She tried again just a few weeks ago and had to stop. But that did not deter her from her determination to try once again.

We hope she makes this try. But whatever the outcome, the message she sends to us is loud and clear and utterly simple. If you have a goal that is worthy, keep at it. There is no shame in failure. Get up. Try to meet your challenge again.

God bless you Diana for your example of grit and determination. Godspeed to you. Swim on.