Tomorrow is the last day of rowing for the year. Tomorrow.
I've been counting down to this day for 8 months. Can it actually be tomorrow?
This week has been crazy. Last Friday, my boat, our second women's crew, rowed a great race but did not qualify for May Bumps. (Thank god.) I was stroke, which means I sat in the first seat and everyone else followed my lead and it was terrifying (though kind of a cool power trip...). My heart goes into panic mode whenever a cox says "come forward to row", which is the command just before a race starts. I *hate* that feeling of terror and adrenaline, though it's what most athletes thrive on. So I'm (secretly and very quietly) thrilled that I didn't have to race in May Bumps.
But I was also heartbroken for my team. The other rowers and cox in that boat were masters students so they're only in Cambridge for one year, and this was their only chance to row in Bumps. It was for them that I organized that team in the first place, for them that I agreed to be stroke even though it's hard and scary, for them that I worked so hard to find enough people to row even while they took exams and wrote theses and couldn't think about anything else. So I'm sorry for their sake.
For me this week was a blur of bike-riding along the Cam, screaming at our first boat as they raced their hearts out against much larger and better-funded colleges' teams. We won *everything* and we even got to the top of our division and got to row in the next division up!! That means we raced TWICE on Thursday and TWICE today, one in each division. CRAZY. These rowers are incredibly strong - it's a long race to begin with, and to do it twice in a day?! I've never rowed that far in one day in my life, let alone raced it! Amazing.
Tonight was a fund-raising dinner that we invited the boat club alumni to (there aren't very many of them - we've only had a boat club for like 1o years). So I helped our boat club president write a fund-raising pitch complete with inspiring stories about how the boat club shapes people's experiences in Cambridge and in Clare Hall, etc. Complete with photo slideshow and heartfelt stories from two alumni. And we officially presented the two blades we'd won in 2008 and 2009 to the college, to show the alumni how accomplished we are for such a small club. So it was emotional and fun and focused on winning and full of inside jokes about rowing at Clare Hall. Interesting to meet people who were just as dedicated to the boat club as we are but we don't know each other. Let's just hope they write checks to us...
So now it's the Friday night before Bumps Saturday. Tomorrow all of Cambridge will be on the riverbank watching a whole day's worth of races, including Clare Hall men's and women's team who are BOTH eligible to win blades if they just bump tomorrow. OMG I am SO VERY glad not to be rowing. I have to sort out who gets to cycle alongside the race (only 4 people can, and about 15 have asked to do it!), who is bringing the gummy bears for before the race and the champagne for after, and who will carry the Clare Hall flag that will get displayed on the boat as we row home after the race ONLY if we win blades and which the team is not supposed to see until they've won or else it's bad luck... ooof. I can't WAIT for tomorrow. To be over.
Imagine - I'll never get another text message in the middle of the night from someone who's sick and can't row. I'll never have to call someone in the middle of the night to ask them to sub for someone who's spontaneously sick. I'll never have to write another email planning the boat club schedule. I'll never have to beg people to read their email so they know what is going on with the boat club schedule. I'll never have to listen sympathetically while people explain to me how busy they are and why they can't do whatever it is they promised me they would do. I'll never have to agree to organize something because no one else volunteers. I'll never have to fake interest as my teammates and coaches discuss the fine points of rowing technique or equipment or psychology and all I want to do is go home.
One more day.
Now I just have to get through tomorrow's race, enjoy the post-race celebrations which includes throwing the captains in the river (ugh), write my speech for the boat club dinner, get into formalwear, give my speech at the dinner, not say anything too negative/honest during the dinner, and get the hell home and go to bed WITH MY CELL PHONE OFF.
Rowers, please bump tomorrow, bump quickly, bump safely, and get Saturday and my captaincy over with FAST.
GO CLARE HALL!!
My friend Julia and I switched around some seat nametags at dinner so we could sit together. Note that my wine glasses are still mostly full at this point, so my smile must have been authentic. :) And look at Julia's bracelet - it's an oar!!
I went to a conference the day after the ball (actually, more like 4 hours after the ball...). 40 people I don't know (and my one friend) listened to my talk, asked questions, chatted with me over lunch, etc. Then at the end of the day I went to the bathroom and realized that I was still wearing TONS OF MAY BALL MAKEUP. Yikes! It must have been industrial strength makeup to survive my shower. What must those historians of education think of the speaker who talked about the history of the blackboard while wearing glittery blue eyeshadow?! No photos of that, luckily.
Wow, two weeks of May Bumps and then May Balls. I need a week of detox. I'm off to Leeds tomorrow for a conference, so maybe a few days of ideas and academics will set me right. IS MY LIFE FOR REAL?! :)
