Saturday, May 24, 2008 5:31 PM
for all its worth, 15km. dont ask me why the event is named as the
2008 olympic rowathon. i have never seen myself in the idea of competing in the nationals or even in any global olympics. however, the event was as such named and our teams went for a slow row to raise funds for our club.
normally, trainings are usually just 2.5km that we row with water-based techiques to help us row better and that is if we have nice water. the only mother nature factor that scares us rowers is the wind. small winds arent that bad. its the
strong and violent ones that play us hard. for us, the hot scorching sun and the cold rain are all something we can take control of- caps and jumpers.
rowing 15km was a killer. its sucide. even for normal trainings, the most we do is 2.5km and 15km is really a big jump from that. not to mention that fact that
we rowed non-stop for 15km till we reached the end point of the checkpoint. yes, it was crazy but we all wanted to escape from the rain and the violent winds that were gaining on us as we rowed.
even in singapore, the
most i've paddled was 12km in canoeing. not to mention, the number of times i treated myself to some of mac's waters because i was so thirsty and also considering the
number of breaks i gave myself because i didnt have anyone pushing me. now, that 12km was comprised of 6km front and back. this rowathon was a straight route all the way till the finish line.
the scenery was exceptional. it was so serene and beautiful. never before, have i seen such peaceful and delicate countryside houses.
it was spectacular. we saw a miniature waterfall by the side of a jetty and farmstays with grazing pens.
now, that 15km of scenery.
now, the advantage of rowing in a quad also has its disadvantage on the flip side of a coin and that is slackers like me.
15km was a long way to go and i was getting restless 3/4 of the way to the finishing point. rowing is beautiful because all it requires is the same set of movements. stretch out, square the blades- chop into the water and pull with the slide, feather back. thats about it all.
unlike any other sport like has a game plan or any winning strategy, rowing doesnt have any. all it has are a bunch of motivated people with their eyes set upon the finishing line. nothing more, nothing less. thats the beauty. its boring you know. the same set of movements every stroke. i couldnt help it but dozed off a couple of times. i was glad that my oars did not collide with any others. now, i said a few. thats all.
i woke up right after that. once we reached the finishing point, we started comparing the amount of blisters we had on our hands. gosh, galatee's ones were bad. she was in the stroke seat meaning the front of the boat and me the bow, the back of the boat.
i had very bad blisters myself and my kneecaps were shaking hard from all the sliding we had to do while rowing on a slide.
angeline went gaga over this guy in our club. she claimed that he was also in the same school as her and she was so glad that they were in the same club, my gosh, i have never seen a girl so crazy over a guy and trust me, he isnt even hot for my taste. i mean,
even i wldnt go gaga over any guy except for my babe of course.
i must say all that rowing did really make us all hungry and
crazy over food. it was weird but 3/4 of the journey, the same time i was dozing off, i smelt like mcdonalds hashbrown. ooo it smelt so real and good. i think i was hallucinating then but woke up immediately when i have splash water at.
after the row, there was a sausage sizzle and me and galatee took a bite out of 2 sausages in a bun each. haha! im a good influence when it comes to food- she took the idea of 2 sausages pretty well and funny though, i got commented on my sauce decorating skills on a hot dog. how weird is that comment? thank you donut king for the countless number of times i had to make hotdogs for customers. haha!
you taught me well in that skill. how weird.
oh, did i tell you guys that for competition purposes, we have to wear this cool wet suit for rowing purposes. how cool is that? yeah but the price is still reasonable, 30 dollars for a wetsuit sounds pretty okay now that im working.
im hoping to get the pictures off angeline for todays rowathon.
i learnt one thing from today's rowathon and that is
if you want something, strive for it!if you dreamt of it, achieve it. and in all,
if you believe in it, ,make it real!know it, want it, seek it, strive it, achieve it!
oh gosh, I LOVE ROWING.
cheers, team mates, you did well in today's rowathon and im looking forward to the medals we're going to achieve in next weeks tournament. GO TEAM CURTIN!
