Team Work

It was a rough evening. The entire day went really well; I was feeling much better and happier than last night. Then I went dragon boating.

As soon as I started to paddle I knew that my arms were still feeling the affects of the vaccinations I got yesterday. And with every stroke, the ache became worse and worse. I did my best and kept on stretching and rubbing the muscles whenever we stopped, but half way through practice it was just too much.

By that point, I was actually in tears from how much it hurt combined with my frustration with not being able to row properly. Fortunately they were testing out the roster for the regatta coming up this weekend. I can’t attend those races, so I was sitting in the very back of the boat for a change and considered myself lucky to not feel like I was making a scene in front of everyone. I normally think of my pain tolerance as quite high, and I felt a little silly to be taken out by a couple of shots.

Once I knew I had reached my limit though I told the coach that I had to stop. He was great and offered me reassurances that it was okay to just relax. I did exactly that. The second half of the practice I pretty much just sat and observed the team. I learned a little bit about how to steer the dragon boats too which was neat.

In the end we all went out for ice cream. No, it wasn’t on my plan for today, but it was exactly what I needed to get that sense of camaraderie that I had felt like I was missing out on because of taking it easy at practice. I genuinely like feeling like I am a part of a team. I never had that before and it’s one of the many, many unexpected but valuable things that I have gained on this journey.

FOOD & BEVERAGES:
- 11 glasses of water
- 1 pan-fried banana and light peanut butter wrap on a soft tortilla shell
- 1 1/2 cups fat free strawberry yogurt with 2 cups wheat flake granola cereal
- 1 small homemade strawberry and white chocolate chip muffin
- 1/2 nectarine
- 1 chocolate chip granola bar
- 1 large golden delicious apple
- 1 cranberry almond multi-grain bar
- 2 cups mint chocolate bar ice cream blend
- 3 cups macaroni and cheese with pepper
- 4 slices of bacon
- 8 whole wheat crackers with homemade red pepper jelly

EXERCISE:
- 1 hour and 10 minutes of walking completed in 2 outings (45 minutes long and 25 minutes long)
- 30 minutes of rowing a dragon boat