Weekend Recap

The weekend was enjoyable if not very productive, which is how I like it. Friday I was up bright and early and out on the water by 7:00AM. It wasn't hot yet, in the low 70s, but it was very humid. I headed up river toward Ryan's Dam. The water was great - nice and flat. The downside was I was still pretty sore from Thursday evening practice. For that practice I was in a double something I've only rowed a few times before. We rowed the double about 6 miles racing 4+s. I was also sculling with someone I've never rowed with before. It was pretty rough starting out as we were constantly dipping to port. Over time we got better and smoother and by our last piece from Jacob's Rock to our cove (about 1 1/4 miles), we stayed even with the 4+s until right at the end when one of the coxswains in the 4+s got too close to us and we had to drift wide to avoid clashing oars. Back to Friday's row, I wanted to try and get in 10 miles since I hadn't single sculled in a while. Going up river was fine, but by the time I spun my boat and started heading back, I was just exhausted. Rather then a steady row, I had to just row in mile increments and then take a break. Funny how it's always easier heading up then heading back to the boathouse. After my row, Ann and I went to the Original Steak House for lunch. I tried their crab cake sandwich and it was really good. I highly recommend it. After lunch I went back and took a nap while Ann watched her HGTV (boring). We went for pizza for dinner (sausage, mushroom and onions - yum) and early to bed.

Saturday morning was my club practice. We took out two 8+s - the old line up and the young line up. We rowed up about a mile past Ryan's Dam (4 1/4 miles) and did several race pieces on the way back. I was in the old line up boat and we got out hats handed to us time and time again. We were missing three of our strongest rowers so it really came as no real surprise. More of a surprise was how fast they could walk right through us. Saturday evening we were invited to witness some old friends renewing their wedding vows on their 40th wedding anniversary. It was a bittersweet ceremony. On one hand it was a moving ceremony for a couple that has been together so long, obviously care for each other very much and have raised three fine children. On the other hand he is very ill fighting lung cancer and recovering from a heart attack as well. He didn't look well at all, which could be expected. We wished them well and socialized with neighbors, something we do too little of and generally had a good time.

Sunday I went for a bike ride minus Ann. She decided to skip out again and stay home claiming it was "too hot". Please the temperature at Dulles airport, which is right next to where we ride was only 72. Of course the humidity was a stifling 94%. Since Ann wasn't with me, I headed east from Rt 28 toward Vienna rather than west toward Leesburg just as a change of scenery. Vienna is 12.5 miles from Rt 28 so it turned into a 25 mile ride. I managed to knock 3 minutes off that ride from last time doing it in 57 minutes each way. Last time was 1 hour exactly. Bike speedometers are fun to have. Despite the humidity, it was really quite nice out. The trail wasn't crowded but enough people were out riding, rollerblading, jogging or walking to make for some interesting people watching. After my ride, I came home and got up on the roof again to clean out the gutters. A job I hate but it needed to be done. It was amazing how much I sweated doing that job. My shirt was dry after my bike ride, but was soaked after cleaning the gutters, Yuck. Hopefully they are now good until late October when the leaves start falling. After the gutter cleaning, Ann and I settled into to watch the finals of Euro 2008. It was a good game and I was surprised to see Spain come out on top. Germany has a knack of pulling games out in the end and I kept waiting for their tying goal to come and it never did. I'm pumped now for the next World Cup. We also watched the Nationals pull out their rubber match game with the Orioles in 12 innings. It was nice to see them smack the Birds around.

Hope you all had a great weekend.