January 4th, 2011 marked the first official practice of the new year. Of course, as I mentioned in the last entry, the team was excellent this year and not letting the holidays get in the way of staying in shape, but there's always something a little tougher about being in that big group with a few motor boats following behind calling out rates and technical stuff that keep you on the edge.
I've started off as last year as the lone female sculler on the lake and it's always a challenge to maintain that intensity and enthusiasm when there aren't other girls around to try to beat but I usually manage to start myself in a position where the odd men's single and really hurting pair can't quite pass me. Sometimes I think no one even knows I'm there and that's hard, but most times that just drives me to work harder because I can put myself on that start line every day against the real opponents: the world. Sometimes I think we get so caught up in beating each other that we forget that the real competition sits in waiting in foreign countries with different equipment, different coaches and different ideas of what it takes to win. Don't get me wrong, I love the group and I see the value in it, but at the end of the day, medals aren't awarded on Elk Lake or Lake Fanshawe, we want those precious pieces of medal around our necks on a podium far, far away...
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