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 :)