Staying Afloat

Well, first of all, I woke up in a much better state of mind than I was in last night! Sometimes so many things go wrong - one right after the other - that it’s hard not to plunge headfirst into a bad mood. Once I awoke this morning though, after a relaxing bath before bed and a good night’s sleep had taken place, I felt totally refreshed. In my experience, allowing the occasional brief wallow in self-pity doesn’t have to be a bad thing; positivity can bounce back quickly from most setbacks if you allow it.

Something that is a bit different from my normal routine is that I had an extra dragon boating practice tonight. A number of people from different teams (but out of the same dragon boating club) came out this evening as we are all going to be competing together in a women’s only regatta at the start of August. I am so excited about this!

I think that the dynamics of this group will offer a different experience from what I have become accustomed to with my own team, and I really love the idea of paddling with all females for a change. I believe that it will be a really great time and I was so happy to get out on the water for practice. We have another round next Thursday which I will attend and then I have to miss the one the following week. I am still up in the air about the final training session before race day because it is scheduled for the downtime I finally promised myself. I’m sort of torn between sticking with the commitment I made to myself and wanting to go out and enjoy the camaraderie of a fun group of women in preparation of something I really enjoy. I will probably wait until the last minute to decide…

At any rate, I am definitely looking forward to racing with the ladies! I also have a different regatta coming up this Saturday with my normal team that should be a lot of fun. I just love this sport, and I am so glad that I decided to try dragon boating!

FOOD & BEVERAGES:
- 10 glasses of water
- 1 pan-fried banana and light peanut butter wrap on a soft tortilla shell
- 2 egg wrap on a soft tortilla shell with grated cheese, spinach, and pepper
- 1 nectarine
- 1/3 cup cheesy snack crackers
- 2 oats ‘n’ honey granola bars
- 1 cup maple almond granola cereal
- 1 1/3 cups raspberries
- 10 whole wheat crackers with cheese
- 1 cheeseburger with onion, ketchup, and mustard
- 2 cups mint chocolate bar ice cream blend

EXERCISE:
- 55 minutes of rowing a dragon boat