Walking back up the hill I saw him and exchanged some good morning pleasantries with a few other rowers. They were all very supportive and gave "it's just like riding a bike"-type encouragement.
It's funny when you take apart all of the little pieces of rowing. Taking out oars, navigating the boathouse to get your boat without whacking any others, following space and place protocols, setting in and getting ready - they are all of the little steps before you even get in and push off the dock.
Thankfully we started slowly. Phil recommended we start at 1/4 slide initially and build from there. Rowing for my high school team, and the little I did in college, was all sweep, but in the summers and fall I would get in some sculling. I'm not sure that my memories would have been any less taxed had we been out in an eight today, but I do know that most of my mess ups would have been far less noticeable than in our double.
The upshot was rowing with someone whose strength-to-weight ratio crushes mine (like, ridiculously), so my lack of umph wasn't really as obvious as it might have been. (Well, it wasn't as obvious to ME at least.) We actually did well enough today on the windy river, and I actually think with a little more practice, we could be really good at it.
Here we are just before heading in to the dock.
Splashed with water and having removed my sunglasses while staring into the sun may not be my best look, but at least you can tell I'm happy.
My hands.... not so much.
What's seven blisters on your hands compared to a morning row? Proof that you should do it more often. I came home and registered for the Mid-Atlantic Erg Sprints. Yes. Me. The "I Hate Erging" girl just signed up to do it in front of people and supposedly for fun. It isn't until February, so I have plenty of time to practice and get a little stronger.
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