I heart dragonboating

Despite my ribs, I managed to self-medicate and make it to Carleton Place safely on Saturday morning. We had 4 400m races and miraculously my back (and front) didn't even give me a twinge.

I've never paddled a regatta where every race I was completely satisfied with my (and the team's) performance. I put a lot of pressure on myself since I usually sit in the front seat of the boat. I feel a lot like a goalie where the game hinges on him, win or lose. If I can get the strokes for the start, sprint, race pace, series, race pace and finish perfectly right, then I feel good. But I hadn't been able to get it right in practice and then I hurt myself. It seemed impossible. I know in my head it's not entirely my fault if we screw up but I always feel totally responsible.

Luckily I didn't have to worry on Saturday. Whether it was the drugs, the great weather, the aligned stars, the blueberry oatmeal cookies, the team atmosphere or the actual training, I finally got it. Every race was effing fantastic. We won every heat but one and came in second by just tenths of a second in that one. We were an all women's team and we came in second in that category. Silver bling! After the race we calculated that our average age is 45.6. The women's team that came in first trains all year long, has "boot camps" and an average age of about 25. I'm just saying. I'm not sure how we did overall but it was definitely top 20 in a field of over 40. For a bunch of mums and a few grannies, we did pretty good.

Did I mention we rock?

kxx

Hee. Ouch. Eff.

This rib thing is really getting to me. It's not so much the pain as the fact that I feel like I'm getting punished just for laughing. I'm a happy person. It's not a put on, seriously, ask anyone that knows me IRL. I laugh a lot. I'd like to think I'm a funny person (although I can't tell a joke to save my life). I had a friend Patricia years ago who'd only call me when she needed cheering up.

So having these torn ligaments (which got re-diagnosed to cartilage yesterday by the chiropractor, by the way) is really chafing my ass. Every time I giggle, chortle, chuckle, guffaw or otherwise express my joy and/or delight, I feel like I've been set upon by a well manicured gang whose weapons of choice are nail files that they drive between nearly all my ribs. Good times.

I'm on tons of meds since I'm due to stroke for my dragonboat team at a regatta tomorrow. I'm pretty sure there is no crying in dragonboat. I discovered that inconvenient fact during 2 practices last week where I spent an awful lot of time covering up the fact that I was bawling in pain.

Yesterday's practice was much better. My ribs were sore but (Yay!) no tears. Looks like I found the perfect drug cocktail. Two hours before getting on the water I rub my back and chest with Deep Cold then pop an Advil Liqui-gel, a celebrex, and 2 robax platinums. I'm the highest paddler on the water. Whee!

kxx