I Go 100

This is a relatively quick post with some thoughts about my row today. I completed my first half-marathon ( 21.1 km) on the machine this morning (yay me!) and it was tough – tougher than it could have been. Maybe it was the fact I was dehydrated from the red wine I enjoyed last night. Maybe I was just tired. The fact is, I didn’t prepare for this as I would for a race, so I was maybe a bit careless in my preparation. Anyway, here are some highlights from the row:

First 2km – blowing out the cobwebs, feeling the body creaking, hips kinda sore

2-6 km – gradully inching my speed up to a respectable level, feeling more tightness in my hips and lower back but I managed to stretch them out by sitting up tall and bringing the seat right to my heels when I came forward

6-10 km – this was my “whine and suck it up ” stretch…first I’d silently whine about how I felt crappy, then immediately afterward told myself to suck it up – repeated this a number of times

The middle part – I thought about different things such as the school and the kids, the possibility of having my event at West Edmonton Mall (currently in negotiations and looking good), and the myriad of things yet to do. I also thought about a friend who was running a marathon today – he had a tough season and was hoping to end it on a good note. However, I can’t let my mind drift too far when I row or my pace slows way down – so most of my thoughts were focused on the numbers on my little computer screen.

The last 8 km – My Hands My Hands! They really started hurting and I half-expected to see some blood on my palms at the end (fortunately this didn’t happen). I spent most of this stretch flexing my fingers and moving the socks around that I drape on the handles (they absorb the sweat from my palms). I bunched them up and then smoothed them out, changed my grip and flexed. Still it was an interesting thing to think about…I’ll need to work on solutions for longer distances. I may end up combining gloves with socks…hmmm. Anyway, they felt like witches claws when I was done – better apply lots of chapstick this week…

At the end of it all, I thought – yay me. Then I thought, that was tough. Gotta repeat that 5 times…yup, I can do it.