All day today it was hazy, hot and humid, with the chance of thunderstorms in the evening. I was curious if we would even have rowing because obviously thunder + metal boat = bad. When the time came, we were on! It was actually a little cooler than its been some of the days, and with the clouds the sun wasn't as horrible. Coach kept saying that it was going to be fine and we should go to the smaller river because boats and jet skis would be out and heading to the Charles (boats to the Charles I assume). So, we rowed over to the furthest place away from the dock, over two miles away, and then he was like, yeah, there's a thunder storm coming, we are going to row back. Sigh. It actually wound up being a pretty good workout because we just rowed, took a short break, saw some lightening, and then rowed faster. We were going at a 26 for much of the row, which is a pretty big aerobic suck, but also I think easier than rowing at a 22. We got back to the dock, put the boats away, and then it didn't rain or really thunder. Ha!
I officially signed up to row in the pineapple regatta, which will be in a little over 2 weeks. I was kind of nervous about it because obviously I have no idea what I'm doing and don't want to get everyone in my boat all upset by messing up. But I asked a few people and they said it's super fun and chill and not competitive - I should just come and have fun. Also, there are supposedly super cute tshirts. It might be my last row of the season - I can't do the next session because of my vaca, and I don't see any sessions posted after that. So, a good way to end.
I keep meaning to write about the sights on the river - it can be a little gritty on the Mystic, there are a few places that smell a little, and there can be trash in the water. But there are also a ton of birds, especially geese, ducks, swans and herons. There's one park that often has kids smoking weed :) Sometimes on the bridges people take pics of us. There's a guy who rides around on his bike playing the saxophone, which has to require a lot of coordination. Sometimes there are jetskiers, and the coaches get really mad at them if they go too fast near us. There are three yacht clubs that we row past, and sometimes there are people on boats (though surprisingly not that often) - they are usually pretty good about going slow around us. Sometimes rowing back we can watch the sun set and it's so nice being out on the water watching the sky change color.
Surprisingly I really like rowing in an eight and don't picture myself switching to a single ever. Every now and then I think that someone else is getting us off balance, but actually it's often me. So I am actively trying to let it go. It's such an amazing feeling when we all get into a rhythm together and the boat is moving fast. Also, when we are far from the dock it doesn't bother me, because I know I don't have to get back there by myself!
