cinque di maggio = WE WON A MINI-FINAL
are you serious right now that the crew banquet was only last night?
if I hadn't been there, I wouldn't believe it. Today's been long -- really, what it is is that today's been the kind of day that separates other days from it in one's mind.
Last night was indeed the banquet. It was a little rushed, but the seniors did get to depart with plenty of swag: a 'Deis Crew '07-engraved oar blade keychain, a senior collage, cards from the team and Ellen, superlatives (so the whole team got those -- anyway, mine was a Georgia reference. the day I drove the "other" van and insisted that every passenger was buckled: they turned that into "Most Likely to Be Wearing Her Seatbelt." Sarah says the original thought was "Most Likely to Install Seatbelts in the Boat" but they were afraid I'd act on it -- that and Corke forgot the phrasing) and biographies of Ernestine Bayer (mother of US women's rowing) from Ellen. the coaches' awards were lovely, everyone looked so good dressed up (so good!), and the food weren't half bad either. They served fried fresh mozzarella -- revolutionary!
today we raced twice. the first was in a heat whose seeding put us at a disadvantage. Simmons took first, while we and Amherst battled the whole time and they ended up taking us by THREE seconds to be the second advancer to grand finals. We and Lesley advanced to petite finals (which are races for 7th through twelfth place and I'm not sure why they exist -- seeding, I suppose -- but hey, whatevs) (I like how Lesley was like 17 seconds behind us, wasn't spending the whole time fighting at all, and made it along with us) (also, we had THE fastest time of any boat going to petites) and Assumption was just way behind.
So after discussing all this, I ran into Ashley, we rested, and then we won our petite final.
We raced UNH, Wesleyan, Tufts, Lesley, and Mass Maritime. It was the best race I think I've had. We had to fight for our placing the entire time -- started off down on UNH and Wesleyan and brought out Plan B: we took a 10 after the first 500 to do something about it, then another 10 at 1250, rather than the single high 15 at the 1000. 'parently the announcer first confused us with Lesley and called us last, then surprisedly changed, and then thought we were starting our sprint with 750 meters to go rather than the usual 250. "That's a gutsy move," he called. It was just a ten, though; we took it back down and sprinted just like everyone else at the 250. Lily told us "We're going to finish this race at a 40!" and we DID. We were composed, SO powerful, and in the end that pulled us through and ahead of everyone else. I am really proud of what we did. If anyone cares to see, here are the résultats.
Tonight is the last swing dance! Tomorrow I must go shopping (ran out of food two weeks early, nothing more aggravating; also I get a 'script), and then the rest of the day is devoted to the essay (minus the last TCFI rehearsal/party and stats studying). Monday is a row, stats studying, essay, and stats final; Tuesday is a row and ESSAY ALL DAY; Wednesday is our last practice on the Charles and, God willing, the day I turn in my essay.
And then I'll be done with my undergraduate academic career.
during then Ilana and I want to go shopping and do an art project, but we'll see how much time either of us has.
Between getting 12 hours of sleep from Sunday through Thursday, singing a CD release on that amount of sleep, 12 more hours of sleep in the past two nights, and today's double hard-breathing, my voice is totally dead. I'm glad I don't have to use it at the rehearsal tomorrow. Can't get sick yet. I have six more days until I might be able to get sick... 17 until I really can get sick.
if I hadn't been there, I wouldn't believe it. Today's been long -- really, what it is is that today's been the kind of day that separates other days from it in one's mind.
Last night was indeed the banquet. It was a little rushed, but the seniors did get to depart with plenty of swag: a 'Deis Crew '07-engraved oar blade keychain, a senior collage, cards from the team and Ellen, superlatives (so the whole team got those -- anyway, mine was a Georgia reference. the day I drove the "other" van and insisted that every passenger was buckled: they turned that into "Most Likely to Be Wearing Her Seatbelt." Sarah says the original thought was "Most Likely to Install Seatbelts in the Boat" but they were afraid I'd act on it -- that and Corke forgot the phrasing) and biographies of Ernestine Bayer (mother of US women's rowing) from Ellen. the coaches' awards were lovely, everyone looked so good dressed up (so good!), and the food weren't half bad either. They served fried fresh mozzarella -- revolutionary!
today we raced twice. the first was in a heat whose seeding put us at a disadvantage. Simmons took first, while we and Amherst battled the whole time and they ended up taking us by THREE seconds to be the second advancer to grand finals. We and Lesley advanced to petite finals (which are races for 7th through twelfth place and I'm not sure why they exist -- seeding, I suppose -- but hey, whatevs) (I like how Lesley was like 17 seconds behind us, wasn't spending the whole time fighting at all, and made it along with us) (also, we had THE fastest time of any boat going to petites) and Assumption was just way behind.
So after discussing all this, I ran into Ashley, we rested, and then we won our petite final.
We raced UNH, Wesleyan, Tufts, Lesley, and Mass Maritime. It was the best race I think I've had. We had to fight for our placing the entire time -- started off down on UNH and Wesleyan and brought out Plan B: we took a 10 after the first 500 to do something about it, then another 10 at 1250, rather than the single high 15 at the 1000. 'parently the announcer first confused us with Lesley and called us last, then surprisedly changed, and then thought we were starting our sprint with 750 meters to go rather than the usual 250. "That's a gutsy move," he called. It was just a ten, though; we took it back down and sprinted just like everyone else at the 250. Lily told us "We're going to finish this race at a 40!" and we DID. We were composed, SO powerful, and in the end that pulled us through and ahead of everyone else. I am really proud of what we did. If anyone cares to see, here are the résultats.
Tonight is the last swing dance! Tomorrow I must go shopping (ran out of food two weeks early, nothing more aggravating; also I get a 'script), and then the rest of the day is devoted to the essay (minus the last TCFI rehearsal/party and stats studying). Monday is a row, stats studying, essay, and stats final; Tuesday is a row and ESSAY ALL DAY; Wednesday is our last practice on the Charles and, God willing, the day I turn in my essay.
And then I'll be done with my undergraduate academic career.
during then Ilana and I want to go shopping and do an art project, but we'll see how much time either of us has.
Between getting 12 hours of sleep from Sunday through Thursday, singing a CD release on that amount of sleep, 12 more hours of sleep in the past two nights, and today's double hard-breathing, my voice is totally dead. I'm glad I don't have to use it at the rehearsal tomorrow. Can't get sick yet. I have six more days until I might be able to get sick... 17 until I really can get sick.