Friday on the Water

Today was uncharacteristically cool for Virginia in June. The temperature was in the 60s most of the day and overcast. Since it was my day off, I headed over to Sandy Run for an early morning row. I got there around 8:00 and only a boat or two was out. I ran into a rower heading out who is also a member of my other rowing club. She's a professor at George Mason and rowed at Carnegie Mellon. She was on their team, if I remember right, in her late 20s so she more than held her own against the younger rowers. I launched about 15 minutes after she did and ran into an immediate problem. The shell I was in had its seat tracks adjusted further to the stern of the boat then I realized. When I set my foot stretcher in my usual position and pushed back my seat hit the end of the track. My legs were at a half slide position when I pushed back and hit the end of the track. Not a good thing. I turned the boat around and headed back to the dock. I figured it would be easier to adjust my foot stretcher at the dock than on the water and risk capsizing. My first attempt to dock was a miss as I misjudged my approach and ended up parallel to the dock but not close enough to reach out and grab it. The second go around was more successful and I was able to dock, make the adjustment and off I went. The water was particularly calm and it was easy to make the boat run. I headed upstream in the direction of Ryan's Dam. I made good time and passed three boats heading back including the Professor. I was feeling good and continued for two miles past Ryan's Dam. Its the furthest I've ever been in a single. The round trip was a total of twelve miles and took, with breaks, about two hours. My hands have a few new blisters to show for the effort. Its back to sweep rowing in an 8 tomorrow with my other club.

After rowing I headed out for lunch with Ann. She's embarked on a new fitness regime herself having joined Curves and made a new commitment to walking as often as she can. To that end we've also been trying to eat healthier. So for lunch we went to Red Lobster for lunch. I got blackened cod and Ann got Lobster pizza. I also had some Bass Ale with lunch. Have to carbo load you know. After lunch we made a trip to Target to stock up on some essentials like toilet paper and dog food. Ann also wanted to get some new sport bras.

We were going to go watch the Potomac Nationals play tonight as John Paterson, the Washington Nationals No. 1 pitcher who has been out most of the season with arm problems, would be making a rehab start. When I went on line to purchase tickets I discovered the game was being played in Frederick, MD and not here in Woodbridge. Ooops. So much for baseball. We did stick with having hot dogs for dinner though. I had a hell of a time getting the charcoal to light in our grill. I use the Kingsford Match Light charcoal. We've had a recurring problem with the charcoal as it gets to the bottom of the bag. Its like it loses whatever they infuse it with to make it light with just a match. Its almost impossible to get it to catch. I'm not sure what the problem is. I did manage to get a few coals to light and moved them around the grill to get some of the others to gray up and put out some heat. All in all, it took about 20 minutes for the grill to be ready. Very annoying

Daughter#1 was off to a Gaelic festival tonight and is then going to see the Mets play the Yankees at Yankee Stadium tomorrow. I'm somewhat envious. I lived in the NJ/NY area my first 13 years and never got to go to Yankee Stadium. She also had another celebrity sighting. She saw Matthew Perry at one of the local watering holes. She's also off the bf's parents for Father's Day. I'm not sure what Ann and The Son have planned for me, but lets hope its something fun.