Sunday was Race B of the Waterside series, in preparation for the DW next month. I was a bit faster (its all relative!), definitely slicker (also relative) and as the picture shows, smiling throughout. Especially at the jelly baby refuelling points – big thanks to Al for his support crew finesse and geeky calculations as to how far ahead of schedule I was. Once again, no speed records broken but I made the 17.5 miles from Newbury to Aldermaston and back in 3:44.01 so was fairly chuffed with my efforts. While I maintain I am not being competitive, (”It’s all part of training – more about survival than racing”) I must say I was very excited to overtake a paddler or two here and there and definitely very frustrated when I managed to flood my boat while climbing out at a particularly high get-out point, and lost 7 minutes getting back on track. No falling in this time, though, so it’s all good.
After a lovely few days away with my godmother and her husband (it’s half term, so no kids in sight!), where I politely munched all the delicious home-cooking sent my way, I am feeling refreshed and renewed after walks by the sea, lots of resting, reminiscing about my Dad and catching up with each other. However, there is now some catching up to do in the gym…