This weekend I joined the American consulate dragon boat team in defending our championship. We won first place for the third straight year, but it wasn't the cakewalk that last year's was. We defeated the second place team by just a mere second. I have to say, I don't know if my arms have ever hurt more than they did at the end of that race. For 500 meters we paddled as hard as we could. Probably too hard! With our Marines up front setting the pace, we started fast and furious and probably burned ourselves out faster than we needed too. We kept our lead, but our second place rivals saved their best for last and were only a few more meters from taking the trophy.
The race was held out at a huge recreation park holding an aquatics center, a golf course, residential villas, and an aircraft carrier... Yes, that's right. A full size aircraft carrier parked in concrete. Surrounded by rockets, and old model jet airplanes. Ah, "The China". I really wish we had a picture of the thing so everyone could see it. It is really something to behold.
Congratulations! What a great weekend for dragonboat racing! My team won our first gold medal this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI would just offer this one suggestion: don't paddle with your arms. You get more power from your bigger muscles: core, back, and legs. ;)