I think I'm going to my grave without swimming from Cuba to Florida.

I am not defined by transient fame, or by childhood sexual abuse, or by world records. I don’t wake up each morning a woman, a senior citizen, a lesbian, a Democrat, a human rights advocate, an atheist, a pacifist, an animal lover, an environmentalist. I may be all of these things, although above all I’m just a person who cherishes a bold journey. A person who refuses to let this one wild and precious life slip quietly by.

Close your eyes, close your fists, and say, ‘I couldn’t have done it a fingernail faster.’ If you can say it, and mean it, I guarantee you it will be all right, no matter what happens. No regrets.

What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

I love that aspect of sports where you can see what kind of work, how much work, an athlete’s been doing by how her body is carved.

I’ve been living out loud the Henry David Thoreau saying: “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” The quest of the Cuba.

I failed and faltered many times, but I can look back without regret because I was never burdened with the paralysis of fear and inaction.

But for each of us, isn’t life about determining your own finish line?

Whatever your Other Shore is, whatever you must do, whatever inspires you, you will find a way to get there.

If you can just immerse yourself in your life, it doesn’t matter what you do everyday. Just do it intensely. Be in it, so that when you go to sleep you’re exhausted every night and you say, ‘Whoa, I just couldn’t have done any more with that day.’