Race Around the Rock

I've got to get this in quickly - July and August have been HUGE and things are backing up. As usual, I'm talking about outdoor activities. To hear my Mom tell it, she gets a call from my sister Brooke in NYC, flush with her new MBA from NYU and scouting out bigger and better job opportunities going up against 6-8 person interviews in a day, nailing them, and going back for more. She is all recruiter this and networking that and probably about to land a job where she'll make enough money to hire me to clean her apartment. She is an absolute corporate rockstar.

Then my Mom gets a call from me, in SF, flush from my latest activity - the sweep at the outrigger sprint championships in Sacramento, my new 50k PR at the Skyline 50k trail race, a dominating performance at the Alcatraz outrigger race where my women's crew beat every other boat in our race - women's and co-ed - and my first paddling race in Hawaii this past weekend. I am the activity rockstar. But I do have a corporate job. So there's that. Which is nice.

But I digress. Race Around the Rock! The first of the long distance outrigger races following sprint season and right in our own San Francisco waters, spanning 10 or so miles from the Golden Gate bridge, around Alcatraz, to the Bay bridge and back to Chrissy Field. Following the usual format, women only and co-ed boats raced together first followed by the men's boats.

(SFOCC men's crew - also first place winners)

My women's crew lined up mid-bay between the north and south ends of the Golden Gate bridge with 20 or so boats towing an imaginary line until the flag from the lead boat dropped and we were off. To our right, the Mt. Tam women's crew (our cross bay rivals and Jessica's newly adopted club) got a huge jump on the start surging ahead from the cluster of canoes and pulling out to a quick lead.

As our steerswomen, Amy, navigated us out of the fray, past our own co-ed boat, a women's Tahoe boat and then the Mt. Tam women's boat, we quickly found ourselves out in front with a Tam co-ed boat far off to our left and another team's co-ed boat up ahead about a 1/2 mile. Our crew was all in sync and hitting as one that day, gliding powerfully through the water, slowly and steadily building our lead. We caught the last boat on the backside of Alcatraz and never looked back.

(Jessica and Amy, pre-race)

Amy picked a beautiful line through the waters - through almost invisible currents and small bumps on the water that we accelerated down to put more distance between us and the co-ed boats slowly gaining ground behind us. She kept our sights small - focus on this landmark, on that landmark, be the first boat there, don't let them beat you, this is your race to lose. It kept our focus - that and the proximity of the voices from the Tam co-ed boat that kept drawing closer in the last miles. It was one seemingly small and slow-rolling swell - it might have been from a passing ferry boat - that propelled us out of their reach. As we buried our blades deeper, pulling harder, Amy pushing faster, we caught every inch of the ride that swell offered and left the sounds of the other boat behind us.

We paddled hard to the finish, propelled by the thought of coming into view around the last bend for our teammates to see that our women's boat was leading the pack. It was exhilerating - the feeling of being so in tune as a crew in the boat and the determination we had to take the lead and never let go. It was our race to lose early on; not finish as the first women's boat but to finish first overall.

It was the kind of day you relive in your mind, as you drift off to sleep. You wonder when you'll feel that synergy with the crew again, with the conditions, with the day. I know enough not to take it for granted. Someone can have an off day, the conditions can favor another team's strengths. You have to have a team of six all dialed in as one: on the same goal, the same stroke and feel of the boat, the same determination to push through the fatigue at the end of a race. I hope it happens again this season, but I'll savor this one for a long time to come.