In two, sprint to the end. Finish it, ladies.

Rowing.
Some days I wonder why I'm a rower, and why I love it. Other days, I just know.
All rowers know the feeling of the water sliding past you as you gracefully glide through it, the sound of the blades making contact and pushing through. We know that certain 'clunk' when you and the rest of your team are one body, every movement, every stroke, every muscle moving in sync.
We get all giddy and excited when the tide is in and the water isn't choppy; when there is little wind and the sun is out just enough to heat your back and warm your face.
We go through The Trestle, into The Narrows, to Bay, to Johnson and back again. We back-and-tap, glide, row on the square, Power 10, Power 20 and half-slide. We push into the foot plate harder then we ever thought we could push, and we keep working on pressure with every thought, motion and stroke.
We keep the ratio, the rate and we have our own splits that we always feel the need to stick to, if not beat. We cry over a less-than-a-second-loss in a race, and smile when we win over the other boat by one single stroke.
On the good days we feel strong and powerful, but most days aren't like this.
We get soaking wet when its choppy or when people can't tap down well. We are in a constant state of freezing during the winter months and never manage to keep our socks dry. Our hands are always caked in salt-water and we have hard callouses or blood blisters that form at the bottom of each finger.
We take the long trek from school to the Gorge everyday, hoping to make it by 3:55 so we don't have to erg. Our bags are filled with spandex of all shape, color and varying levels of warmth. We are used to 5+ layers in the winter, and if your lucky, a pair of pogies. We all bond and become close friends, seeing the good and bad in everyone on the team (this happens when you spend part of each day together) We run to the Red Hut and back until we have forgotten the number of laps we've done.
We erg for so long that by the end, every minute feels like an hour. We do push ups, sit ups, crunches, planks, side planks, wall sits and then more planks, triceps curls, bicep curls and jump squats until we feel near the brink of death. But we keep coming, keep yearning for a perfect day, a perfect row. We develop a strong relationship with our coxswain, our coaches and even our boats. We lose the better part of our social lives, with the common reply, "Sorry I can't I have rowing.." We love it and hate it and feel pain 80% of the time but we still keep coming, every day, every season, every regatta.
We have water flowing through our veins and in our hearts we know that we are
Rowers.