FOND DU LAC (NBC 26) — 59-year-old Melodee Liegel of Delafield Wisconsin slipped into the water at four in morning in Fond du Lac.
She didn't come out until 17 hours later when she walked onto the shore of Waverly Beach in Menasha.
Liegel says after doing marathon swims for around 20 years she just had to give swimming the length of Lake Winnebago a shot.
"Sometimes we need to make up our own swims which are called pioneer swims," Liegel said. "And then we get those ratified by the Marathon Swimming Association."
She admitted staying mentally focused during the almost 17 hour swim was difficult, but it's necessary to keep yourself in it.
"The mind wanders a lot," Liegel said. "I play a lot of games in my head. So I'll do this alphabet game where i list all the cities in Wisconsin that I know of that starts with a, and then I do b, and the whole alphabet."
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And she says that the last third of the journey was the hardest by far.
"The end was probably the toughest, because you can see shore," Liegel said. "But its always farther away than it really is. And it gets a little frustrating when you think your close and your actually not."
But ultimately Liegel says no matter the adversity there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
"The goal is to finish, Liegel said. "And it might not always be pretty. But you finish. And then it's all worth it."
While she says she is still a little sore from the journey. She will be back in the water tomorrow doing what she loves to do, and that's swim.
