TRIALS RESULTS!

This morning Ursula won her heat, and now it's on to the finals on Thursday!

Click HERE to follow results.  Ursula is in the LW1x and the LW4x with the rest of us Bellingham Bandits.

A brilliant man...

Sadly, Cas Rekers, the inventor of the RowPerfect, passed away yesterday morning in the Netherlands.

I never met Cas, but I feel he deeply influenced my life, even in just the few months I've been training using his brilliant invention.  I frequently heard his voice over Skype as he, Carlos, and Ursula talked, and knew right away he was a very special person--not only because of his ingenuity, but also because of his warmth and kindness.

The RowPerfect has been an incredible breakthrough in my rowing, and I wish I could've thanked Cas personally.  I know he will be in my thoughts every time I get on the erg (and that is quite often!).  THANK YOU, Cas, for being a crucial influence as I work toward my goal.


-Abby

A favorite recipe...

Today I was inspired by our abundance of kale in the fridge, that must get eaten up before we leave for trials on Sunday.  So, I decided to make some kale chips...yum!  This is one of my favorite recipes, and it's super easy and surprisingly addictive!  Give it a try!  (I've found that kids really love them too!)

1 bunch Kale, washed and dried well
1-2 TBS Olive Oil
salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Tear kale into chip-size pieces, and put into a large bowl.
Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt.
Mix well (I find that using my hands works the best, so you can get all the leaves evenly-coated with olive oil.  Be careful not to over-salt!  The kale will bake down a lot, so you need less salt than you may think.
Spread out onto 2 baking sheets, and bake about 15 minutes, tossing midway through, or until chips are crispy and starting to brown on the edges.
Yum!

:) Abby

New Zealand - Preparing on all platforms

Ok, as New Zealand starts getting more and more ramped up, in the media, in our minds, in our training, we want to make sure we prepare and cover all the bases. So we are eating our kiwi's, (the fruit), excited to see our first kiwi's (the bird), and then we are practicing the HAKA. 

Origin of the Haka (The source and more info here >)
According to Maori ethos, Tama-nui-to-ra, the Sun God, had two wives, Hine-raumati, the Summer maid, and Hine takurua, the Winter maid. The child born to him and Hine-raumati was Tane-rore, who is credited with the origin of the dance. Tane-rore is the trembling of the air as seen on the hot days of summer, and represented by the quivering of the hands in the dance.

Haka is the generic name for all Maori dance. Today, haka is defined as that part of the Maori dance repertoire where the men are to the fore with the women lending vocal support in the rear. Most haka seen today are haka taparahi, haka without weapons.
More than any aspect of Maori culture, this complex dance is an expression of the passion, vigour and identity of the race. Haka is not merely a past time of the Maori but was also a custom of high social importance in the welcoming and entertainment of visitors. Tribal reputation rose and fell on their ability to perform the haka (Hamana Mahuika)
Haka reflected the concerns and issues of the time, of defiance and protest, of factual occurrences and events at any given time

Watch the HAKA >

A few little updates from Abby...

This evening I got some dinner to go and found a beautiful spot on the beach to watch the sunset and enjoy some of the last precious sunshine of the season.  Bellingham is such a beautiful place!

Last weekend we visited some local farms.  My highlight was getting to hug a sweet little goat.

Fun on the goat farm

I think we need an attack rooster for our dock.

Thanks to Ursh for her great last couple posts!

Seeking Sport's Sponsorship

In an ever unyielding effort to seek sustainability to this training lifestyle and Olympic-Gold-Medal-Goal, it is interesting to read about the trends in women's sponsorships. In the Harvard Business Review / Sept 2010, there was an article called: Why Men Still Get More Promotions Than Women. 

My sense from the article and listening to the author was not so much about gender equality, but more about aligning yourself in a favourable position to get sponsored or promoted. I believe in action, strongly, and hope that our journey and partnerships, through sponsorship can cause a ripple effect to many other social issues that Abby and I are passionate about. For example, Abby about promoting unlimited strong women, and I would like to tackle promoting paleo-friendly eating thoughts, especially in children.

In our lifetime, it is going to be such a gift to give back and inspire others on their paths to self-actualization.

Strength to Strength

Abby and I, while driving to the bank, jokingly called ourselves rowing nerds. It seems that we can not get away with conversation that does not include rowing. What we are finding out more and more, especially as we row with Carlos individually, and then come back to rowing with each other, is that our differences are highlighted. We talk about how we feel the boat acceleration, and where we are putting our impulse to make that thing move! I told Abby, now that I know where her strengths lie, when rowing with her, I try to max those, and not get frustrated on the parts of the drive where I feel we are not as one. I have come to think about rowing this double as not trying to look like a mirror of each other. If you looked at the Romanian LW2x winners in Athens, they looked very different rowing. But they moved the boat together. And so this is where I feel how making huge leaps and bounds. We are going to move this boat with our different strengths, and not give them up simply to match/mirror. Rather understand where they are, and use them. I believe this is a higher level of relationship building. Where you don't lose your identity in the other just to match. Rather you both keep your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses, together.