NSR 1: Day 2

Post #44

Princeton, New Jersey - My alarm clock went off at 4:45 am today (I like to be up and moving around for a while before racing) so it has been a long day to say the least. Here's the recap.

This morning I raced the heat. I got out in the lead early but was pushed by the second place boat for much of the race. I ended up coming in first, therefore qualifying for the A final. I knew looking at the results that Julie (Nichols) hadn't been pushed quite as hard in her heat so the times weren't an accurate gauge of speed.

Photos of this morning's heat (thanks to Row2k!). This was at 500 meters to go.

Heading into the final (which happened this evening as a result of yesterday's shuffling), I knew it would be a tough race with Julie. Julie has been racing on the elite scene since 2001 and has been to multiple World Championships. She represented the US in the lightweight single in New Zealand last year and placed sixth. She and I trained together for four weeks in Feb/March when I was in Berkeley so we'd already had lots of race pieces against each other. I knew we were close in speed and I knew she'd race well. I led the race off the start, and held the lead until just before the halfway mark (1000 m). Then Julie inched in front of me and stuck there for a while. She ended up beating me by two seconds at the end. Even though I didn't win, it was a really great race. I had so much fun getting back out on the course.

The next race on my schedule is NSR 2 in mid-May in the lightweight double. It has been great to hear from you all throughout this week's racing. Thanks for staying tuned!