Today was rather 'interesting'.
As has been the case for the past few weeks, I had to wake up at 6:00 to be ready for my 7:00 crew practice. We started out with our normal 'flag run', which consists of running from the boathouse, to
Jack London Square, and back; a 2.5 mile trip. And uh, let me inform those of you who don't know this: When you weigh a few pounds shy of 200, it's not fun to run long distances. I can sprint really well, but anything over a half mile and I start hating it. I'm by no means bad - I usually place in the top 6 out of 22 guys, but that doesn't mean that I like it.
So after our run we started getting the boats out. The rowers always have to follow instructions from the
cockswain (pronounced cox'n), and we're not supposed to talk back, or suggest another way of doing something. We took the boats out, and were just about to put them on the water, when our coach came up and said, 'alright, bring both boats back into the house, and the
launch also'. Carrying the boats is no easy task, and we had been eargerly awaiting the moment when we could dump it onto the water, but after realizing we would have to walk up the boat ramp, and all the way back to the boathouse, we all inwardly sighed, and questioned what we had done wrong.
After putting the boats back in, and replacing the launch on its trailer, we lined up by the door of the boathouse. Coach was mad because 'You can't go out on the water withour oars. You should always get the oars out before the boat'. A few of us started to grumble about how the cockswains should have told us to do that, and that it wasn't our fault. Ignoring our legitimate complaints, were we told 'So, now were're going to run over to Lake Merrit and run some stairs".
Lake Merrit has a three and a half mile circumference. More if you don't run through fairy land (that little pack area), which we didn't. I think I already mentioned how much I hate running. Oh, and I seemed to have forgotten to mention that the Lake is about a mile away from the boathouse.
In the end, I just had to do one lap around the lake, since I had work and needed to leave early. Everyone else stopped half way around and ran stairs. The stairs were about as tall as your college football stadium. They had to do
40 circuts. I'm not going to comment on how ridiculous that is.
Yea.... so that was my pre-9:00 morning.
From crew I went to work. I work a few hours a week as a gymnastics coach. Saturday mornings I work from 9:00 till 11:20. Classes went well. I came back after lunch, at around 1:00, to work a birthday party. It was very fun. Getting paid +$5/hr on top of your regular wage to entertain kids by doing gainers into a foam pit is a pretty cushy job if you ask me. I'd much rather be doing something with my body than standing behind a counter all day.
So the point of this is: I'm quitting crew. I didn't sign up for cross country, and I hate our coach, the inept kids on the team (about 4/5ths), and rowing in general. Now I'll have much more time to achieve my personal goals, and catch back up with schoolwork. I don't have to be worrying all day now about how I have to leave at three, and finish up all my schoolwork before that.
Yes crew is a great opportunity to get a scholarship to an ivy league school, but I asked myself the other day: "do I want to be rowing five timesa week while I'm in college?". The answer is no. There's nothing to love about the sport. It really doesn't take much talent, and the kids that do it are the ones that can't make it in any other sport. That or their parents want them to spend less time at chess club.
[/rant]
thanks for hearing me out
