The Torch

After a pretty good first outing in the heat( row2k interview), we are through to the quarterfinals on Thursday and faced with our most challenging and exciting test yet. We drew Lithuania, Italy, and Australia ( among others) in our quarter. Top 3 boats go through to the AB semi. Lithuania were silver medalists in 2013 and have been perennial medalists in this event. The Italians have a slightly different combination but the stroke man Romano Battisti has been in the final or medaled in ever race he's been in since his silver medal at the 2012 Olympics in the M2x. The Australians, have medaled every time they have raced in this combination over the last two years. But believe it or not, our main competition will continue to be the USA. That's the boat that we are constantly dueling with. Improving upon our own rowing, race plan, togetherness while also conquering our own preconceptions and fears. Yes, we have an incredibly difficult quarterfinal, but the goal remains the same, to quiet the doubts in our own minds that inevitably come up in the middle of a race, and row the race that we have been training for: the complete piece. Best start, best base, best sprint. Needless to say, the fight for top three is going to be hot. By most accounts, we should not make it through this quarterfinal. Most will look at this draw and count us out. Perfect. We don't need anyone to believe in us other than ourselves. We obviously know the implications of not making it through the quarter: it would mean missing out on Olympic qualification. I always imagined my Olympic dreams being decided at a Trials race or in a semi-final or a B final, but it is here in the quarterfinal where we will see just how far we've come. Whether we planned it this way or not, this is the race we have been training for. The far off dream of making the Olympic Team in the M2x, is right here in front of our faces in this quarterfinal and right now we are in the final precious moments where we still have a full say on whether that happens or not. I never expected this to be easy, I knew that by pursuing the double we would not have a spot, we wouldn't just have our dinner waiting for us on the table, we would need to go hunting for it.