It's All About Me...

Second Day at the Regional

I just got back to the hotel after our second day at the Regional. Yesterday, I got to the venue around 9 am to help take boats off the trailer. Throughout the day, I watched some of the races, read my book, listened to some music and helped with getting oars to and from races for other crews.

My first race was not until the end of the day. We were in a mixed eight and there was no heat for that event. We came 4th in a race with 7 boats and I don’t think we were even close to fighting for 3rd. We were disappointed, but that was how things worked out.

Our tent was next to the Green Lake Rowing Club’s and as I was sitting there (for the most of the day), I noticed that one of the rowers at that club looked very familiar. And sure enough, when I went up to her to check, she turned out to be one of Dan’s family friends, Javiera. Dan’s parents and the parents of Javiera (the Verdugos) have been very close friends; the Verdugo girls and the Kogan boys spent many summers and vacations together when they were growing up. In fact, we are in the process of coordinating with the Verdugos to have a get-together at our house since all of them live in the Seattle area. So that was a pleasant surprise.

Today, my first race was just after 8 am in one of the women’s four; there were 3 heats and the first 2 in each heat advanced to the final. We came last in our heat, so there was no advancement for us. We rowed that line-up once at practice and had a totally magical rowing experience once we got the kinks out. Unfortunately, we were unable to re-create that moment for the race.

My second race today was another mixed eight; it was a good line-up and we were very close to the boat in front of us. If we were able to move up a few more seats, we would have come 3rd; but no such luck. So we were 4th again in the event.
I have one more event tomorrow; the heat is before 8 am. If we advance, the final will be after 3pm; if not, I will be done will be done with all my races. I may just head home and then return to the boathouse to help unload tomorrow evening.

I am not too tired from the races at all, but the heat is something else! It will be way over 30˚C tomorrow… and I think it was quite close to that today. Thank goodness for the nice big tent and lots of water and Gatorade!

posted by Anne-Gigi @ 5:47 PM