Why?

First things first - I'm starting a blog. Yay! This is mainly because I'm avoiding confronting my essay and as I'm still a little bit ill at the moment, I'm not otherwise occupied by rowing or eating, which would normally take up the majority of my weekend.

This first post should probably be devoted the the major question that faces me (quite literally now, thanks to my housemates interaction with the whiteboard on my door) every time I leave my room. Why do I row? On the face of it, there are many reasons not to:

• Getting wet and cold 
• Regularly waking up before sunrise
• The pain
• Smelly kit that constantly needs washing
• Tired. All the time
• Going to bed at 9
• Strange tan lines
• Blisters
• Stairs become painfully inconvenient
• 2k tests
• Erging in general
• Always rushing off to training
• Not much spare time

And to top it all off

• There's just under a 50% chance that I won't even make it into a boat at the end of it. So by some measures, this could all be for 'nothing'. 

And if someone had grabbed me 13 months ago when I was about to step into a boat for the first time and told me all of this, would I still have done it?

Look at that smile. So naive. So unprepared.

Well. Maybe not. 

But, as with everything in life, there's more than one side to this:

• Endorphins
• Knowing you've burnt off 700 calories before most people have woken up
• Camaraderie
• Winning races
• Eating an entire Soreen in one day and not feeling guilty
• Rowing puns
• Rowing innuendos 
• Seeing the sunset behind Ely Cathedral
• Mist rising off the river on a perfectly calm day 
• Finishing ergs (I'm still trying to work out if this is a legitimate counter-point to the fact that ergs are horrible. Probably not. It's a good feeling, anyway)
• Feeling good about my body.
• Finally finding a use for my broad shoulders. 
• Food. (I've still not totally come to terms with the fact that I'm potentially going to need to lose 3-4kgs in the next 6 months)

When it comes down to it, though, I don't really think my decision to row is as simple as weighing up the positives and negative. It's very rare that we choose our activities based on a rational assessment of pros and cons. There's something about rowing that just clicks with me. I love the way that it's about how far an individual can push themselves for the team. I love the fact that dedication in training pays off and I can feel myself getting stronger and making improvements every week. I have a definable goal, and there's something incredibly fulfilling and satisfying about knowing what I'm aiming for. 

And that's why I row. 

(Also, I think I just get really stubborn about things sometimes. That helps.)