Worlds? What Worlds?

I should have done myself a favor and updated my blog more regularly over the past few weeks.  Because now there is just a maelstrom of god-knows-what coming at me full-force and I don’t know if I can get all of it written here meaningfully and in a timely fashion before the World Championship Team leaves for pre-camp on August 16.  I have a lot on my plate right now, and I am doing my best to use today to get as much of it straightened out as possible before things really get crazy. But here’s what I got out of the last few weeks since we’ve been back from Lucerne:

1) I made the 2011 World Championship Team

I will once again be rowing in the USA W4X this year.  Hooray!  After a grueling two weeks of selection in doubles and quads to select this year’s boat, I am back at it with Natalie Dell, Stesha Carle and new sculler and Husky Pup: Adrienne Martelli (Washington ’10).  I think we are in for a fun trip to Bled.  The jokes are already starting, though Natalie seems to have gotten some help for her Shot Blok addiction since last year and Adrienne’s generally quiet nature leaves most of the inappropriateness up to myself and Stesha sitting in the middle of the boat.
There are still three women’s boats to be named for this 2011 Team this week at Trials:  the W2-, W4- and W1X.  Good luck to all the athletes who start racing tomorrow for those spots!

For anyone interested:  there will be a National Team Meet-and-Greet & BBQ at Mercer Lake on August 6.

2) The 2011 World Championships T-Shirts are Ready to order:

We are very grateful for the help and support of SEW SPORTY who will be doing all the printing for our Team Support Gear again this year.  They are AWESOME (!!!) and always put up with our BS so patiently when we ask them to print us 4-color shirts in 40 different sizes and styles and ship them across the country in less than 10 days.  Good news:  shirts are available to order ONLINE through Sew Sporty’s website, check it out: http://www.sewsporty.com/shop

Even though Ellen and I had a GREAT TIME staying up until midnight sorting shirts, packaging them and shipping them all across the country last year, I am hoping that the online store option will help people get the shirts they want this year without them having to come through me (and you won’t have to mail me checks either!).  It was awesome to connect with everyone who ordered last year, but I am grateful that I can spend that time doing something else this year like… sleeping.

3) Did you hear that there is only 1 YEAR to go until the 2012 Olympics?

I feel badly that I didn’t have the time to sit down and write a proper post on July 27 this week to celebrate the 1-year-to-go mark for the 2012 Games.  Not that I had much time to myself on Wednesday to just sit around and ponder what this all meant to me in any sort of depth, but I do realize the gravity of the situation much more intensely than I did, say… on August 8, 2007.  Looking back through my email to see what I might have been thinking about during that time, it seems I was flirting with a guy I wanted to be my boyfriend (who it turns out, did not want to be my boyfriend), getting ready to move in to a new house, and also feeling sorry for myself because I had not made the 2007 National Team.  I don’t believe it occurred to me in any sense that I would be making the Olympic Team in less than a year’s time (especially given 2007’s disappointment of being left home).  I had no idea what was in store for me.
Now, it’s different.  Beijing was a life-changing experience, and I find myself hyper-aware of all things 2012.  I also find myself hyper-aware of all of the things that need to go right over the next year if I want to stand on a medal podium in London with a a medal in my fist.  Things haven’t gone the way that I had planned, or even hoped after my return from Beijing.  This isn’t where I envisioned myself three years ago.  But at this point, that’s not what matters:  what matters is the work that I put in over the next year to achieve my goals.  Starting with my performance at this year’s World Championships.

4) Thanks for reminding me I’m old, USRowing.

So aside from the fact that I find it completely heinous that National Team/Olympic Athletes have to pay to be members of USRowing, I am dealing with the mortification that I am now “over the threshold”… and have to pay an additional $20 on my membership because I am now 27 or older.  What is this about, anyway?  USRowing thinks that because I’m 27 now I suddenly have more disposable income than I did when I was 26?  Based on what? On the contrary, it seems like the longer you stay and row for the US, the less money you have.  Come on.  If you’re looking for athlete retention, USRowing, this is not helping!

I don’t have time for this.  I have to go write my check to USRowing.

Long Live the Dream,

–MK