The First Time In Which Our Heroine Attempts Something Athletic
Canada Day Dragon Boat Regatta (AKA What I've Been Breaking Myself In The Rain For This Past Month)
This week is the first time we've sat in a boat without buckets of rain falling on us. We had no idea what to expect competition-wise, our coach kept telling us we were pretty damned good for newbs but he could have just been being nice. Then we pulled out a surprising 3rd place finish in our first qualifying heat.
Tiny Sweetness with a celebratory 'punch it in mommy!'
Stretching out some of the OH JESUS GOD I DIDN'T KNOW MY BODY COULD WORK THAT HARD OW OW OW broken
Ok stop now, I'm an elite competitive athlete here not some bimbo starlet for the paparazzi
Second qualfying heat and we top 3 smoke the other boats in an insanely tight race. I can't believe how much better we were in this race, especially given how much pain we were in. Ha. So that's the crazy adrenaline rush business they always talk about? We end in third place again, but by less than a second this time.
Team Photo with our goofy Blue Dragon temporary tattoos. That guy lying on the ground at the front? Our SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD coach. When the hell did they start building giant, muscley, hairy, bearded 17 year olds?? I swear to gawd I thought this kid was in his mid-20s at least. So naturally my head was all kinds of "HE'S ONLY SEVENTEEN! SEVENTEEN! DADDY SAYS HE'S TOO YOUNG BUT..."
The main event! The qualifying heats unsurprisingly put us in the B Division for newbs, however we're in boat number 2 and if you look closely we actually had the lead when this shot was taken...
Second place finish...ahhh the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. I felt a bit like the US men's hockey team at the Olympics this year, I'm not gonna lie. Ha.
So now they're seeing if they can get enough interest from all the new teams to continue the season into the next regatta in August. So far there's only 9 of us willing as everyone else has plans for the summer so we'll see. If not I kind of want to look into rowing instead of paddling? I can't believe after 29 years I've finally found a sport I actually enjoy.
But oh jeebus I am so SO broken today. Tonight after work I schlepp the kids to the in laws cottage sans Fratboy as he's on nights. Tomorrow I somehow have to scrape my ass across Marineland with them. Happy Canada Day and 4th of July and all that jazz y'all.
Can someone please start a vodka IV? STAT?!
