Wednesday, November 20, 2013

A New Era Has Begun

2013 is drawing to a close - and what a year it has been! This was the year we not only realized our ultimate dream - but realized it several years sooner than we had ever expected, or even dared to imagine.

G & L at opening ceremonies in Szeged, Hungary this past summer.

1. We each qualified for the USA National Dragon Boat Team - G in Senior A women's division, L in Premier Women's and Premier Mixed divisions.
2. We wore the Team USA uniform in Hungary and netted four glorious medals. EACH.
3. We started our own competitive dragon boat racing club (www.maliaracing.com)
4. We took a ragtag bunch of complete novices (sprinkled with a few dormant and even some not-so-new) paddlers and guided them to glory (first season on the water and we medal in a tough division).


Also - two things that weren't part of the plan but came about in amazing and wonderful ways anyway: 

L got married (to her and G's first Montreal and fellow Malia coach/co-founder - such a reach this sport has on people's lives!) - G now has to share L a little bit ;-)


and

G discovered a new passion and fierce talent for drumming and leading group exercise.

SO what's next?

1. We're presently working hard working Malia members SUPER hard and recruiting new members to complete our men's (premier), women's (premier) and Grand Dragons (50+) mixed teams. (Know anyone or want to join? Let us know!!)

2. We're also working hard back at the gym ourselves, trying to make sure we're on the roster for Club Crew Championships in Ravenna Italy with our Montreal team (roster will be announced in February).

And the rest of the plan .... we'll leave for another day. This is PLENTY to focus on for now!

Monday, September 30, 2013

A dream come true: representing our country at world championships!

We MADE it. Vermont girls who went off to train in Canada in order to make Team USA. The gamble paid off (if those smiles are any indication at all)... here we are at opening ceremonies at the World Nations Dragon Boat Championships in Szeged, Hungary earlier this summer. 

This has been such an exciting summer... it's been a whirlwind of activity: so much so that I've been unable to keep up! In my last post we'd just made the national team... and here we are in the thick of autumn already - the boats are out of the water, paddles have been put away, and flip-flops have been traded for sneakers as we begin our season of intense indoor training.  Over the next few weeks,  I'll be chipping away at getting caught up! 

Thursday, June 27, 2013

How to render a border guard speechless

So I'm crossing the border, alone for once, and roll up to be greeted by a tall, young, fresh-faced guy. I've only seen him once before, but I'm apparently quite familiar to him.

"Dragon boating again?"
"Yes sir!"
"Are you going to end up in the Olympics or what?"
"Hell yeah! My team won at worlds last year and I just made the US National Team!"
"Get OUUUUUUUTTTT!.... I was just kidding. For real?? Seriously?"
"Yeah! Why else would I do this back and forth shit so much? Oops, sorry..."
"Oh that's fine, I say shit all the time."
[chuckling]
"REALLY?" he continues. "National team?"
"Yup. We're competing in Hungary next month."
"Wow."

And thus, suitably impressed and enlightened that this is not just a cute little hobby but a kickass, serious sport, he gave me a big smile and wave and sent me on my way. I should have tried to recruit him for our club. Next time I'll have my poster and "come try dragonboating" flyers ready.. (I wonder if there are any laws against trying to solicit government personnel ... )

Sunday, June 23, 2013

OC Training - Hungry Dragons style!

So, we have this incredible friend who let us use her OC1 to train on. She lives a little off the beaten path, so her crazy-amazing-inventor husband rigged up their golf cart with a hitch, crafted a trailer, and devised the most fun way in the world to move the thing around.

Here are G and I coming back from our first session with this whole getup. Not sure what we enjoyed the most... the paddling or the zipping around with the cart!


Made the cut for TEAM USA!

OMG so much has been happening!! So, we trained like mad, went to Tampa to check out and paddle with members of past USA national teams and other hopefuls like ourselves, then had our own crew's training camp in Myrtle Beach, then trained some more back in Montreal... and then did qualifying time trials on an OC1 (outrigger canoe) to see if any of it had paid off. 

IT HAD.

We BOTH made the cut for Team USA.

I was in the garden, doing a bit of weeding and whatnot, when my teenager ran out of the house yelling.

"Mommmm!! Aunty G is on the phone. She's crying. I think something's wrong!"

I bolted out of the bushes and grabbed the phone with my grubby, dirt-caked hands. G was SOBBING uncontrollably.

"Breathe, woman, I can't understand a word you're saying!" I said. "WTF is going on?"

"Did.. you.. sniff.. get.. sniff... an email... hic hic sniff...?"

"No, I'm in the garden.. what happened.."

"OMG L... I made it. I made T-sniff-E-sniff-A-sniff-M USA!" (more wailing and sniffing)

"HOLY SHIT, we just tested yesterday!"

We hung up, I checked my messages, and called her back.

"MEEEE TOOOOO!! And apparently I need to go to freakin' Philly and retest because my time was close to what they're looking for for Premier. Double Holy Shit!"

Blah blah blah, lots of yelling, sniffing, choking, laughing, disbelief, etc. Hard to believe that when we first decided to set out on this journey we were told not to kid ourselves, that we weren't athletes. Just goes to show - if you believe in something, and want it bad enough, you can DO ANYTHING.

But you can't do it alone. Look what a couple of our biggest supporters did for us! Flowers, hair pieces, a paper towel banner, flags to wave and guide us all up their driveway... you'd think we brokered world peace or something. So awesome to have people behind us and to share each accomplishment with us :)




Wednesday, March 27, 2013

L & G's amazing adventure is about to pick up speed

Serious Speed.

But more about that later.

This week we decided to have fun. All week long. Coach A gave me a cool new book of exercises and I've been making up our weight routines. Our bodies hurt in a whole new dimension!! And we're having a blast. And to cap it all off - today our friend Adam was in the gym at the same time, and put us through some incredible ab work to finish off our workout. That was awesome.

Life is sooooo good.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

How to do assisted pullups properly


In this month's program, we have, surprise surprise, pullups. No matter how many of them you do, they're still hard and not much fun. Luckily, coach said we can use assistance to get back up this week. So we decided on this method. Efficient (both of us in one shot) and damn cool to boot! Bet no one else has a super-awesome-strong gym friend like us :)

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Less than 2 weeks to another fit test

We've got another fit test on the horizon, and then training camp, and we've been working our you-know-what's off to be ready.

So this morning when I saw this cartoon as I was trying to motivate myself to ignore my throbbing head and instead get it together and go train, I was instantly reminded why we do what we do :)

Off to the gym I go then!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

best border crossing ever

Ok so maybe it's just the best one of 2013 - so far. But it was hilarious nonetheless.

I drive up to the booth. New (to me) guy greets me and we go through the preliminaries.

"Where are you going?"
"Home, to Burlington."
"Where are you coming from?"
"Montreal."
"What were you doing there?"
"Dragon boat training."

He does a visible double take, turns to look at me closely, eyebrows raised.
"Dragon boat? Do you ever sink?"
"No!" I say, adding a little indignance (and maybe just a tad of "you idiot") to my tone. I'm about to tell him I paddle with a world championship team thank you very much, when he cuts in.
"No? Aren't they made of cardboard?"
"Cardboard? No way!" I don't know who is more surprised at this point - him or me.
"Ok, well what IS a dragon boat then?" Keep it simple girl.
"A 40-foot, fiberglass war canoe."
"OH COOL! I thought they were made of cardboard."

There's a first for everything right?

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Missing my twin :(

G is in sunny Miami (while I am stuck in this stupid deep freeze in VT) to run her annual half in the marathon.... And I am a wreck without my bff, training partner, sister, twin. Weird. Is it a full moon or something? Good luck G!!!!!! I know you can beat your previous time and then some, you little rhino!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Our debut appearance on TV!

Psyched to share this fun piece with you highlighting our amazing journey, our awesome sport and our beloved team... check it out, we're featured just a few minutes in. Thank you Vermont Public Television!!



Watch Episode 3 on PBS. See more from Out & About.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

What do we have in common with The Biggest Loser?

Bob's workout!! For a little variety we decided to model our circuit on Bob Harper's deck of cards workout this week. My daughter M joined us. Halfway through as we were sweating hard we all thought "shit, if 400lb people can get through this without dying so can we." And we did. Then for good measure we did it again!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Well we worked hard in 2012 and rewarded ourselves with a good party New Year's eve. We gathered at G's, flashing 2013 glasses and hats and noisemakers - the whole nine yards. R rewarded all our work with a big bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label - which we polished off very happily. It was an event planned to the last detail. G's mom made a big steaming pot of that Latin classic, Sancocho and I was charged with dessert.

"Make flan," A said.
"Yeah riiiight," quipped I. "I'm going to make flan for the Puerto Ricans. That's suicide!!"

So I texted G.
What do you want for dessert?
Flan.
You're as crazy as A! You're gonna rip me apart!
And make it properly. With condensed milk and everything.
Fine. You're on.

And on she was. I laughed in the face of danger (her AND her mother) and went for it. A, bless his heart, helped.

Our first crack at caramelizing the sugar was a bust. The recipe I found called for regular white sugar. Well, that liquified, then solidified and turned back into sugar again. And stayed bright white. BUST.

yay, success!
"Try brown sugar" he said, citing a Filipino recipe. So after wiping up the mess, we tried again - with the brown. We'd figured out the ideal temperature to simmer it at by this time, and it worked beautifully.

I mixed up some condensed milk, eggs, vanilla and a few other secret things, and poured it into a pie plate, on top of the waiting caramelized sugar. Just to make sure i didn't create some awful tasting disaster, I made extra in a few custard cups. Into a pan of water and into the oven the entire thing went - with a small prayer to the kitchen goddess that my oven would actually burn at the temperature it was supposed to.

40 minutes later - out it came, looking fabulous. And it tasted pretty good too. I sent a picture to G.

OMG. OMG. OMG you dared and it looks AMAZING. I am glad M is not coming. I am going to eat her piece.

Of course I decided I needed to bring it on a fancy platter - which was too big and caused the thing to slide all over the place. But A, balancing it on his knees the whole ride over, took it all in his regular, relaxed stride. Me on the other hand, had tasted so much sugary gooey-ness in the making of this masterpiece that I had a fashion/body meltdown and went on a closet rampage minutes before we had to leave. I'm very thankful nobody trussed me up and threw me INTO the closet. Boy was I ugly there for a moment.

Anyway, I found an outfit, fixed my hair, breathed in and out a few times. We all got into the car and headed over to G's.

yup, she ate it all. with a big-a** spoon
She dove into it the minute we stepped inside. Her mom too. Great - I didn't even get to have a first drink to settle my nerves.

"OMG, that's so good," was G's verdict.
It was her mom's opinion I was afraid of though. I barely dared look her in the eye as she went in for a taste. She took her time. She swirled it around, then swallowed, then opened her mouth to speak. I was a nervous wreck (thank goodness for the nice big glass of Blue Label right now).

"It's good!" Phew. "A little too much.." oh crap, what!? What!? "vanilla. But otherwise very good."

Quick as a flash, A came to my rescue.
"It's Filipino leche flan, that's why there's vanilla." Dude, I can't wait to marry this man. I fair fell on the floor with relief and gratitude.

"Ah, Filipino flan..." mom muttered. And that was that, vanilla explained. (For the record, I didn't think there WAS all that heady a vanilla-ing, but what do I know, I've never made this stuff before nor do I eat it on a regular basis. In fact, I think I've had it twice in my still young life.)

Tastes completed, we danced, ate the sancocho, digested a few seconds and dished up proper servings of flan. And then waited for the glittery ball to drop and announce 2013. Toot toot!