Sore

It is so worth it, all this time I have committed to crew. It is worth it when we are all rowing in time, and I close my eyes. I can row by sound. I hear the boat. The slow recovery up the slide, the click of the oar lock as we square our blades, the faint splash as the blades fall into the water, the sound of our drive in the water and on the slides, another click of the oar locks as we pull up our oars and feather, and back to the sound of a slow smooth recovery. Its all at a constant tempo, a perfect rhythm. It is a song, backed up by the sound of water running under our feet as we glide across the water. It is beautiful. Four or eight people working in complete and total unison it is the ultimate team sport. At the same time it is the ultimate individual, mental sport, because as soon as you go as far as you can go, as soon as you have given it all you have, you have to do two more power tens to cross that finish line. And once that finish line is crossed and most athletes would stop, take a break and stretch, we still have to row back to shore, put that boat up over heads and carry to wherever our trailer is. This sport is amazing.