afternoon off! huzzah!

This morning I was confident that I would be seatraced.  We had even lineups with me in the 4 seat, and a 4x1500m @34 workout to make the switches.  I treated it like any in-season race; I woke up early, had my pre-race breakfast, popped my pre-race GU, and was ready to rumble.  The first piece went down, and my boat won by about a length.  A good start for seatracing.  I waited for my name to be called with the Washington port in 5-seat, but it was different switch.  I thought I would definitely be switched after the second piece.  Two other switches were made.  We went through all four pieces, and I never got the seatrace I was waiting for.  I was completely amped up for nothing.  It ended up being okay, and something of a relief, because my boat won 3 of 4 pieces, with margins of +1 length, -6 seats, +3 lengths, +3 seats.  (something like that, Osborne would probably dispute these margins, he was in the other boat).  My legs are pretty tapped right now, so its good we have the afternoon off.

After the pieces I went swimming in the river, which is incredible by the way.  Pristine water, towering evergreens, on both sides, and most importantly; black glass much of the time. Not just smooth, but water so still that you can see the dust on top of the water.  This continues for 70 miles I am told.  We've only touched about 10km of the river.  I am truly fortunate to row here.  This afternoon, the guys are going to grill again, and play beach volleyball, and fade chicks (whatever that means).   Should be fun.  If you can't tell, I am feeling considerably better than I was in my last post.  Things are looking up.