Feb. 15, 2008
People who haven't rowed tend to think one of two things. Either those people are crazy, or I want to try that. The primary reason people say we're crazy is the mornings.
If this is stopping you from considering rowing, but you're still curious, here's something to know about rowing - It is a lifestyle. Rowing is not about mornings. Mornings are just a part of the lifestyle and the truth is mornings on the water are an awesome thing.
The alarm goes off and the initial "it's still practically nighttime for normal people" fades away shortly after you finish pulling on your gear. By the time the car is half driving itself to the boathouse - in record time because there's no traffic at that hour - thoughts have shifted to planning the order of events about to take place. Open up the boathouse, flip on the lights, stow your equipment, warm up and stretch, bring the oars down to the dock while the sun is just coming up over the bridges that span parts of the waterway. The coxswain tells everyone to get "hands on" and before you realize it, you're shoving off the dock onto water so calm it makes you think it must be what soft glass would look like if there were such a thing.
Doing warm-up drills all in perfect synch and seamlessly shifting from one drill to the next forces your brain to click into that focus that feels so alive. You gradually realize that there are no other sounds around you except the soft swish into the water of your blade and your coxswain's voice. You're secretly aware that no one you know except the people here with you, could get half as much done in a day.
Why does any of this matter? Why join the rowing world?
The Lifestyle. It's about personal integrity, doing things other people say are too hard. It's about adding discipline and focus into your life in a deep, insightful way. It's about using the strength you gain from all the training to do extraordinary things every day. It's about understanding the power of a team - any team, a rowing team, a work team, a family. It's about growing into the person you always suspected you were, but didn't know how to become - before rowing.
