Kim Bowler just swam along Priest Lake.

That’s more than 38 kilometers and it took almost 20 hours.

She endured rough seas, headwinds, a sore right arm and then a sore left arm, bumping into things at night, and more than once wanting to give up.

She didn’t do it.

Her husband, Chris Bowler, who was kayaking alongside her, said she had somehow gotten stronger in the last hour.

“She suddenly started digging,” said Chris Bowler. “I don’t know where the strength came from. It was pretty amazing. Mentally she shut down. Her arms and legs just gave out.”

Kim Bowler began her mission at 1:55 p.m. on Upper Priest Lake and swam through the night, finishing near Bishop’s Marina in Coolin at around 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday.

The Liberty Lake resident was the first woman to swim the length of Priest Lake and the second overall to do so.

“It’s special to be the first,” Bowler said.

But why should you do it at all?

Bowler has to smile at this question. It wasn’t because she was the fastest or the best.

“I just know I can last longer. I wanted to somehow prove it to myself,” she said, adding, “I can do something.”

She actually can.

Swimming long distances is nothing new for the 41-year-old.

In 2022, she swam across Lake Coeur d’Alene, starting at Heyburn State Park and finishing at the shores of Tubbs Hill, taking 16 hours and 38 minutes to complete the 24 miles.

Compared to what she had just been through, it was like taking a bath in the park, in calm, warm water.

“Coeur d’Alene was magically perfect and beautiful. Calm water the whole way,” Bowler said.

This proved to be both a blessing and a curse, as Bowler imagined that Priest Lake would be very similar.

“It definitely wasn’t that,” she said.

Bowler, a champion swimmer, swam four to five days a week, covering nearly 10,000 meters each day to prepare for the challenge. But looking back, she said it wasn’t enough.

“I should have done more,” she said.

There were rules, so it would count.

She was allowed to wear a one-piece suit, a swimming cap and goggles and was allowed to accept food and drinks from her support team, but was not allowed to touch them or the boat.

She, her husband and her support team had expected good weather, and at first it was nice and sunny. But then the weather changed without warning. Wind and clouds came up and the water became rough. The waves came straight at them.

“We were naive about what was coming,” she said.

Bowler fought her way through until she reached the 2.5-mile thoroughfare with its calm waters, but when she got back to open water, wind and waves awaited.

And she still had about 32 kilometers to go.

“I felt like I couldn’t make it to the end,” she said.

At night, a super moon and headlights helped them navigate through the darkness.

With 7 miles to go, her right arm began to hurt, so she relied on her left arm. Then “her left arm gave out.”

“I was like a T-Rex trying to swim,” Bowler said, laughing. “I could barely lift my hands out of the water.”

She repeatedly fought frustration, anger, nausea and the urge to give up, even when the end was in sight.

“I was still thinking, ‘I’m not going to make it. We have to abort it,'” she said.

But her crew said that wasn’t the case.

“We didn’t come this far to stop this close,” said Chris Bowler. “We have to get you to the finish line.”

Still, Kim Bowler had doubts as she looked out to the beach where family and friends were waiting to celebrate with her.

The last few hundred meters seemed endless. She was moving so slowly that she wondered if she was moving at all.

“I really thought we wouldn’t make it,” she said.

But she did.

When she reached land, she felt a sense of relief, there were a few tears in her eyes and she received a hug from her mother.

“Other than that, I was exhausted and in pain,” Bowler said.

She raised nearly $2,000 for a church project to build wells in Uganda for communities in need of safe, clean water.

So are there any more lakes in Idaho that she feels the need to move on to?

Your answer will come quickly.

NO.

“Right now, I’m just so proud of what I’ve done. I’m really at peace,” she said. “What I’ve done was enough for me.”

For her?

That’s enough for everyone.