Row for the Cure was good. I always like to row this race. It’s usually the first head race of the season, and it’s shorter than a usual head race (3,500 m, compared to a 4 or 5K). The competition is good but not fierce. It gets me warmed up for the rest of the fall-racing season.

The course is from SPU to the red can … a route we do in practice all the time. Familiarity is good, especially since we didn’t row this line up at all before jumping into the boat this morning. We spent the first part of the race ramping up, settling down, finding our rhythm. Melissa stayed aggressive with her steering, yelling out at other cox’ns to get out of our way (she’s little but she’s feisty). She called for a ratio shift just as we reached one of our competitors in the women’s masters 8+. As soon as we did we walked through that boat (yeah, that boat but slow but walking through a boat gives me motivation, a needed jolt, no matter who or what it is).

We passed another boat, a mixed 8+ that looked like they were going backwards. Ultimately, I was gunning for the other women’s 8+ from our boathouse. We were close, I think.

The report is that we came in third, behind Sammamish and the other boat from my club. Dang. Third is okay. But I prefer to win.

When we reversed the ratio and went with the legs, I could feel the surge. The challenge is in managing the rush. Something I will work on (and I hope others will, too), for head-racing season.