Off the Deep End: The Probably Insane Idea That I Could Swim My Way through a Midlife Crisis--and Qualify for the Olympics

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Every kid dreams of defying all odds to become the next Bruce Jenner or Mary Lou Retton or Eric Heiden. And then on to the Wheaties box.
Hodding Carter dreamed of being the next Mark Spitz.
Though he’d failed to qualify for the Olympics year after year after year after year, he never stopped believing he could get there. And as with most men, upon reaching middle age, he had trouble accepting that his body—not to mention his hairline—was ...
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Off the Deep End

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Overview


Every kid dreams of defying all odds to become the next Bruce Jenner or Mary Lou Retton or Eric Heiden. And then on to the Wheaties box.
Hodding Carter dreamed of being the next Mark Spitz.
Though he’d failed to qualify for the Olympics year after year after year after year, he never stopped believing he could get there. And as with most men, upon reaching middle age, he had trouble accepting that his body—not to mention his hairline—was changing, and that he could no longer pass for a college kid. So Carter did what any moderately insane person would do. He set out to pursue once again his childhood dream of being a champion. Only now, it meant being the oldest swimmer to qualify for the Olympics.
So he began training in earnest for the 2008 games as a sprint swimmer. From his first race—which he now refers to as his Swim of Shame (when his arms “began to quake like rubbery Gumby limbs”)—Carter battled the odds and his own body to try to get to the gold.
He trained like the best of the best: swimming three to four miles each day, six days a week, often carrying weights or hauling parachute behind him. He attended swim camp, training under the ten-time Olympic medalist Gary Hall Jr. He swam his way through life: swimtrekking in the Caribbean while overcoming his fear of sharks; enduring hypothermia to swim around Manhattan; returning to college to train with his former coach; and even taking a job at the local YMCA as the assistant aquatics director.
Was he crazy? Maybe. But by December 2007, eight months away from the Olympics, he’d become the fastest swimmer in the country for his age group.
This outrageous and courageous chronicle of a man chasing the gold is an exuberant celebration of determination in the face of time and of achieving your goals at any age.
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Editorial Reviews

Baltimore Sun
"Mr. Carter's voice is so infectiously charming and innocent, and the prose is so affable, even the hardships sound fun."—The Baltimore Sun
National Geographic Review
"Funny and self-deprecating and sweetly engaging."—National Geographic Adventure
Kirkus Reviews
Simultaneously self-deprecating and self-affirming memoir by a college swimming champion trying to improve his times while in his mid-40s. Dissatisfied with his life as a freelance writer struggling to pay the bills, to get along with his lawyer wife Lisa and to rear four young children, Outside contributor Carter (Flushed: How the Plumber Save Civilization, 2006, etc.) found refuge in competitive swimming. He had been a Division III All-American and national champ while at Kenyon College, and although he realized that swimming on the U.S. Olympic team as he neared eligibility for AARP membership was probably just a dream, he decided to go for it. Training almost daily, he developed muscle mass and improved upon the race times of his youth. Perhaps more importantly, Carter discovered that the physical and mental routines provided satisfaction on many levels. ("I've been happy many times in my life," he writes, "but satisfied? Hardly ever.") That heightened satisfaction repaired a frayed marriage and family life. On almost every page, the author injects humor, usually at his own expense and most of it found in footnotes at the bottom of the pages-a clever device in an otherwise non-scholarly book. But he can also be serious, as when he shares the results of his study into whether the aging process can be delayed by rigorous physical exercise. Gurus such as Joel Stager, director of Indiana University's Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming, guided Carter through his challenge of the conventional wisdom that after age 25 muscle mass declines by one percent annually. Perhaps the most important guide, however (other than his wife), was Jim Steen, his former coach at Kenyon, who allowedCarter back on campus as part of the book project. The final pages project goofy optimism that Olympic competition is within his grasp. So well-written that even non-swimmers will enjoy reading about Carter's Olympic quest. Agent: Sally Wofford-Girand/Wofford-Girand Literary Agency
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781565125643
  • Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
  • Publication date: 6/10/2008
  • Pages: 209
  • Product dimensions: 5.30 (w) x 8.10 (h) x 0.90 (d)

Meet the Author

W. Hodding Carter was an NCAA Division III All-American and a national champion on his college swim team. He is a contributing writer for Outside magazine, has written for Esquire and Gourmet, and is the author of five previous books of nonfiction.
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Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted June 17, 2008

    Buy this book

    An easy read, very entertaining. W. Hodding Carter is a nice guy, even though he made the unfortunate choice to attend college in Gambier Ohio. With tongue fimrmly planted in cheek, he recounts his efforts to qualify for the 2008 (oops, let's make that 2012) Olympics as a sprinter.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 8, 2008

    Go Hoddo, Go!

    I am a twenty something, professional woman and I have little in common with W. Hodding Carter. Despite this fact, I found Off the Deep End to be charming and inspirational. Although it is no great work of literature, Off the Deep End brings back fond memories of being on a swim team as a kid. I warmly remember the aroma of chlorine and the silky cool water gliding across my skin. Although I didn¿t have Olympic potential as a kid and I could care less about the Summer Olympics today, I can certainly relate to Carter¿s desire to beat the odds and make the cut for the Olympics. I am pullin` for ya Hoddo - make your readers proud!

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
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