Made it to A/B Semifinal

Learning to scull, Summer 2001.  My Dad snapped this shot of my pug, Pele, watching me from our sailboat.

Yes.  We have advanced to the A/B Semifinals tomorrow morning, where 2 boats from each 4 boat Semi will advance to the 4 boat A Final, and the other 2 will go to the B Final, both of which will be streaming online Thursday morning.  This morning, in our heat, Alex and I finished 3rd in our 4 boat heat, with a decent performance, but third was not enough to advance directly to the A/B semi.  We had to race in the Repechage tonight at 6:20 pm against three other crews, with only 2 to advance to the A/B Semi.  In headwind conditions, we rowed ourselves into second place, which puts us into the Semis tomorrow morning!  Although racing is far from over, to be in the top 8 crews in the country at the Olympic Trials is deeply meaningful to me.  This time last year my back hurt and I didn't know why, I was overweight (over lightweight), grad school was kicking my ass, my on-water results were pretty poor, and things were about to get a whole lot worse as the gravity of my injury was revealed from an MRI scan in June.  On Friday, June 10th, 2011, the Doctor told me I had a bulging disc.  Rowing was out for ten weeks during the height of Summer racing season.  After that, I made a brief return to the water, only to be knocked out again for an additional 10 weeks.  To be here at Olympic Trials, just to be rowing without searing pain and fear of ending my rowing career permanently, is a gift, and one I do not take lightly.  I owe a tremendous amount to all my physical therapists, Dr. Steinley, Karen, all my friends at Riverside and in Boston who supported me this Summer and kept me sane, to my friends and teammates at Seattle Rowing Center, to my coach Conal who has trained me and Alex well, to my other coaches (Jim Bargfrede, Chris Stoer, Steve Perry, Bruce Smith, Günter) since I started rowing for helping me navigate this wonderful sport, and to Alex my doubles partner, a guy who always gives his absolute best, day in day out.  Thank you also to my Mom and Dad (and my pug for teaching me how to nap) because without your support I literally could not be here, doing this.  Mom, thank you for taking time off from your San Diego conference to watch the racing - it's so much more meaningful when you're here.  Thank you to every one of you who is reading this now - we're pulling for you.  We race tomorrow morning at 10am, lining up against three accomplished doubles.  Nothing to lose.  I feel relaxed and confident.

Also - a huge Congratulations to all the crews from SRC who have raced so far.  Lindsay Meyer in the Women's Single dominated her heat to advance, Helen Tomkins also crushed her Rep tonight to advance, our Light Women's Double of Liz Robinson and Emily Gade placed 7th in the Time Trial this morning to advance, and James Dietz Jr. and Jon Greer advanced from their heat in the Men's Double.  Everyone's in it.  Go Team!