Mid-Row Reflections

How lucky we are to be a part of this sport. A few months ago I shared my response to a friend on what keeps us motivated, training hard year after year and living a "healthy" lifestyle. The given reason was to have something to prove, and while this is true.. Sometimes our sport is in and of itself something miraculous. 

This early afternoon I had the river to myself. Soon the high school crews I'd launched near, done with their drills and their coaches throwing bouncy wake all over the schuylkill would interrupt my ease of movement... But for now things were calm. The only sounds those of the boat, the oars, my breathing. Early spring sunlight, still the slightest breeze but not enough to warrant the shirt under my uni. Perhaps unconsciously what keeps us coming back is the motion itself, the satisfying movement of a stroke to the best of ones ability, repeated over and over but also never repeated exactly the same, constantly nudged towards improvement every loop, every day, every year. 

Being outside, alone on a calm sunlit river in the afternoon, moving exactly the way I want to but still subtly adjusting my feel and timing, I can never get tired of this.