Going the Distance for Play: One Stroke at a Time
“Seeing Mars rise over Lake Tahoe” is something probably most people won’t experience in life...especially while swimming across Lake Tahoe…
…but this is one of many beautiful descriptions that ultra-swimmer D’Arcy Toffolo used to describe the magical things she experiences in her big swims. And, when it comes to swimming, it’s a sport D’Arcy knows well given her collegiate career as a swimmer followed by many years of competing as a triathlete which included qualifying and racing at the Ironman World Championship in Kona several times. Fortunate for me, we shared one of those races together and have been good friends since we competed in Kona together in 2007. Over the past 14 years, her determination, grace, ambition and humility in all she does is a source of inspiration and motivation to me to continue to find my own goals to set and achieve. In and out of the water, D’Arcy goes the distance when it comes to pursuing a life of play and she’s no fish out of the water when it comes to Advanced Recess!
More with D’Arcy:
Describe a little about yourself:
I'm an athlete, full-time business professional, mother of two. I've been married to my husband Chris for 10+ years, after meeting him 12 years ago at the Hawaii Ironman. I grew up in Chicago; we moved to Denver 8 years ago to pursue a life of play. I'm a competitive swimmer turned triathlete turned open water marathon swimmer.
How does play motivate you in your life?
It motivates me through the B.H.A.G (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) I set for myself. While some play - like golf, skiing, tennis, flute - are relaxing - open water swimming motivates me to push past my comfort zone - whether it's swimming for 3 hours in 62 degree water (no wetsuit), or swimming across Lake Tahoe. My swimming motivates me to uncover corners of my personality I didn't know I had.
How do you benefit from it?
I achieve my goals - and the reward of having done that is significant and memorable. And, I get to experience the most amazing things - like swimming into the dawn on Lake Tahoe when everyone was sleeping - seeing Mars rise over the eastern coast of the lake. Swimming up the coast of southwest Michigan back in 2018, I got to see the beauty of the sand dunes and the sun filtering through the trees. Not many have experienced these things, if any at all.
Our motto is Pursue a Life of Play. In your own words, what does this mean to you? How do you live it?
Pursue a Life of Play, for me, means giving yourself permission to try things that you may have always wanted to try but were afraid to, or had obstacles in the way. Experiment with things that may scare you even - knowing the emotional rewards will be significant and life-changing.
