Friday, July 20, 2007

Tough Week for Commuting

I missed my practices on Tuesday and Thursday because I got stuck in traffic on the way home from work. Missing the two practices leading up to your first race, a sprint race at that, is not good. Even on good days I'm literally changing clothes in the parking lot of the marina where our boathouse is located so any kind of traffic backup just screws me. Both times the delays were caused trying to cross the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Coming from southern Maryland where I work, for the most part, we're going against rush hour traffic so getting across the bridge is not usually a problem. This week it was. Three to six mile back-ups. Its frustrating to sit in that traffic after a long day at work. Tuesday I didn't get home until 6:40. Thursday I reached my car at 6:10 about the time my boat would be launching. So I headed out to Sandy Run instead and grabbed a single to row. I figured, the men would be down practicing on the race course, but I didn't see anyone at all, which was strange. I figured the men or the women would be practicing there. I headed upriver figuring to row to Fountainhead Park and back. I didn't see any of the club out practicing as I paddled up river. We had a thunder storm come through earlier so maybe practiced got cancelled although the storm had moved out well in advance of our practice time. When I reached Fountainhead and was preparing to turn around, I finally heard our coach yelling instruction over his megaphone to two 8+s. I turned around and waited for them to finish practicing some race starts. I rowed back down river with them and practiced whatever they were doing - race starts, high 20s, settling and final sprints. It was a good workout, but seeing as I'm suppose to be one of the strokes on Saturday, I really needed the practice time with my 8+. They need the time to get use to following me as each stroke tends to row a bit different. Its possible I might get bumped out of the stroke seat, but our coach didn't say anything last night. I'll check with him this evening when we get together to de-rig our boats and load them on the trailer.

Speaking of which, I'll have to leave the boat loading early in order to go pick-up The Son who is returning after two weeks in California. As we speak he's on a lay-over in San Francisco waiting for his flight into Dulles. I'm sure he's looking forward to coming home.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll let you know how the race goes and hopefully have some pictures.

2 comments:

Lyvvie said...

Yay for pictures!! Here's hoping you get some. Thanks for stopping by my blog, I love new visitors. And you're a rower! I've been trying to get myself into rowing because I know it'll be a huge advantage to improving my shape...but I start and go Ugh! So I should just stop pussing about it and do it.So - you are now my rowing inspiration.

The bridge in the photos on my blog is called the Forth Rail Bridge, it spans the River Forth here in Scotland and is my view from my house. The bridge has a pretty interesting history and has been voted the 5th most beautiful bridge in the world. Nice eh?

Looking forward to getting to know you! I'll add you to my Daily Haunts.

Frank said...

Hi Lyvvie,

Thanks for dropping by for a visit. Actually I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures, but others did. You can go here: www.pwrc.org to see them. In our club, the women outnuimber the men about 3 to 1 and they're usually much more successful than the men. I hope you get a chance to try rowing. Its a wonderful sport and you get out on the water. Although I'm sure the water there is a lot colder than over here in Virginia.

I love that bridge. I saw a story on it on the History channel here, which is why I recognized it even if I didn't remember the name. I hope to see it in person some day. I have relatives that live in Largs, near Glasgow so hopefully a visit is in the cards.