Sorry for the delay in new posts but the day before a race was busier than I thought and my mom also got here so I was catching up with her. I hadn't seen her since elite nationals and Christmas before that. This whole training thing tends to get in the way of quality family time. Anyway, here is the blog for our eagerly anticipated race for lanes. Whoooo, hoooo

August 28
Race Day!
Finally, a chance to line up against someone. We’ve been gnawing at the bit to do this and I think that our excitement got the better of us. We had a great warm up and felt pretty good but off the line, we just didn’t execute our best start and were in a hole from the horn. It felt like we were chasing, not racing, so we never settled into our money rhythm that we all know we are capable of. Our opening 1000 wasn’t horrible, but it felt like we worked a bit too hard to get what we got and didn’t truly make impressions with our moves in the second half. Consequently, we went the slowest of the six boats in the third quarter and were left out and finished 5th. So, that is the bad news. The up side is that we did this in what is essentially a race designed to garner knowledge of your crew’s abilities and those of your opponents. We found out we can’t be down on the start (not a provocative revelation) but one that has now been cemented into our minds. We also found out that we can hit a pretty good rhythm on an off day, but when we’re on, I think our base will carry us to the podium. It is just up to us to decide the level of the podium. I know I am not out of the realm of reality thinking that, even with a fifth place finish today. I have a lot of confidence in all of us and know that we can do great things, we just cannot afford to be off and must ride the razor’s edge. If we do that, we’re golden. If not, we get to see an amazing opportunity slip through our hands.
This scenario is eerily similar to my senior year of college. I had joined the Rutgers lwts as a last ditch effort to make good on a college rowing career that had not turned out as I had hoped rowing as a hwt. Aside from a grand final in the freshman four, it had been a pretty mediocre career. So, I took the invite to join and made the varsity for Eastern Sprints. We went in ranked fourth, but knew, just knew, that we were better than a fourth seed and were going to get our medal. Well, we left ourselves too much to make up with a slow start and were only able to muster a fourth place finish, as the rankings predicted. I was so angry and sick with disappointment, I couldn’t sleep that night nor study for my organic chemistry exam the next day. Don’t worry, I passed orgo, but had the uneasy feeling of letting an opportunity pass me by. Luckily, we had the IRA’s still to come to redeem ourselves, which we did by finishing second to Harvard. I am looking at this regatta as I did that one. We’ve had our bad race and now it is time to step it up and make it happen when we race for the medals on Saturday. We’ve got one more shot and I may never be back to get another so I am gonna make the absolute best of it. I have nothing to save it for. I am excited about that one more chance and I really think we can do it. A 1% increase in our focus and speed and we’re right there. It is incremental, not monumental, and I believe this crew can do it.
Ok, that is all I have and I think I got too deep, but that is what a blog is for, right? Sorry for the sporadic entries, but I never thought I’d be able to do daily ones, as life here ain’t too exciting- hope that changes soon. Keep wishing us luck along with the other US crews. Later.