Alexandra Heminsley thought she could swim. She really did. It may have been because she could run. It may have been because she wanted to swim; or perhaps because she only ever did ten minutes of breaststroke at a time. But, as she learned one day while flailing around in the sea, she really couldn't.

Alexandra Heminsley is the author of Running Like a Girl, which has now been published in fifteen countries. She is a journalist, broadcaster and ghostwriter. She lives in Hove.