World Cup, Day 1

Today was a heavy day of racing. I started the day off with some corn flakes and a banana and a few cups of the the atrocious Czech coffee. We spent the better part of the morning stretching, sitting, and reading. (I'm reading Atlas Shrugged.) Sprint racing, with all its sitting and waiting around, is sometimes crazy. (Can I even say that?) Everyone's laying down under boats, out of the sun, eating controlled portions of bars at specific times and timing their walk down to the dock to warm up down to the very last minute. Myself included, of course. We're talking a 10-hour day at the race course, peppered with four short races, dozens of separate warm-ups, and all sorts of carefully measured little habits and idiosyncrasies. The strange things we do.

Anyhow, to start off the day Mickle and I had a solidly satisfactory k2 1000m heat at 11am: our first 1000m k2 race together ever. We were lucky to progress to the semi only because there were too few boats to knock anyone out.

Next up was k4 at 2pm. Mags, me, Mickle, and Jen. We did NOT have a good race. But there are some changes to be made and it's going to be great in the semi tomorrow.

I raced the k1 500m to a 5th place finish in my heat which sends me through to the semis tomorrow. I was happy with that race but I think I can do even better in the semi (good thing, because that will be necessary in order to make the final).

Lastly, Mickle and I had our k2 1000m semifinal. We improved vastly from our heat, paddling 12 seconds faster and with much better form. Unfortunately, we didn't make the final (I think we end up in 16th place).

To top the day off, there was a raging thunderstorm this evening with gorgeous lightning fingers that I had the pleasure of viewing from underneath my rain jacket hood as I sprinted with Nathan and Mickle from the parking lot to the boat racks to make sure all the boats were tied down. During all this, I had completely resigned myself to a legitimate belief that bolt of lightning was going to find me and stop my heart. [I am a worst-case-scenario-imaginer.]


Maggie chose to read vampire stories on the windowsill during the storm.


At the end of the first day of my first World Cup on my first European tour as a senior paddler, I feel tired and pleased. Tired from the racing followed by our Tempest Adventure, and pleased because I have successfully completed the mission of Going As Hard As I Can In All My Races.