Dragon Myself To Bed

What a fantastic regatta!!!

Yesterday was my first glimpse into the big dragon boating festival I have been so excited to take part in! We arrived and I was amazed by how big it is! There were well over a hundred teams signed up to participate and there must have been thousands of spectators there too. The best part was that everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and the energy was extraordinary!

We did two seeding races yesterday and the team was quite happy with our results. We placed in the bottom half for both of them, but we were pretty much expecting that. As you compete in each successional one you can tell that the teams are becoming more and more evenly matched which is what the seeding is for. It was such a great time and I just adore my team!

Then today, just before our first race, I was incredibly touched by a kind gesture and reminded again of how fantastic people really can be. Someone, who asked our manager to remain anonymous, basically donated $50 to the team with the stipulation that it be used to reimburse a portion of my husband's and my festival registration fees. We were stunned! We have no idea who would do such a generous thing, nor what we did to have someone believe that we deserved such an amazing contribution. It was totally out of the blue, but so very appreciated. It is a wonderful feeling to know that there are such caring, thoughtful people in this world and that genuine kindness is one of the biggest strengths of humanity.

So, following that incredible and unexpected moment, we had our first heat - the one before the final race - and we finished in second place! We were so excited! That bumped us up to the 'B' recreational division and meant that for our final race we would be competing for medals!

Unfortunately, we did not actually win one of those pretty, shiny medallions. However, our last paddle still went really well and apparently the team moved up 32 spots from their placement last year. We had a great time and got in a good workout; we had a lot of fun and it was such an interesting experience - one I will never forget! I am about to drop into bed from sheer exhaustion, but I already can't wait for next year!!!

FOOD & BEVERAGES:
- 9 glasses of water
- 1 pan-fried banana and light peanut butter wrap on a soft tortilla shell
- 1 pear
- 1 cranberry and almond granola bar
- 1 ham and cheese sandwich on whole grain bread with lettuce, mayonnaise, butter, and Dijon mustard
- 10 sweet potato fries with spicy mayonnaise sauce
- 1 bite mini melts ice cream substitute
- 3/4 cup fat free peach yogurt with 1 cup honey nut granola cereal
- 1 cup raspberries
- 1 glass sparkling elderflower water
- 2 cups rotini with meat sauce
- 1 piece garlic bread
- 1 1/4 cups strawberries

EXERCISE:
- 6 hours at a dragon boating regatta (approximately 20 minutes on the water)