1st Race Day, Saturday, July 7th
The first race for Knot A Breast was Race 4 at 9:24 AM. We paddled to the start line never taking our eyes off Coach Kathy sitting on the drum. Deep breaths in and out. Eyes inside the boat. Focus. We have trained for this. We were in lane 3 up against Australia, two teams from the USA, and two teams from Italy.
The announcer calls out “Ready Ready”… and off we go! We came in first place with a time of 2:21.740 (minutes:seconds).
In between races it was important to eat light, keep hydrated, and move. There was plenty of time to visit with other teams from around the world and to browse (or shop) at the vendors set up in the park. Some of us stayed at our tent and caught a little shut eye!
Heat 2 was at 5:42 PM. Breathe. Focus. Eyes in the boat. Off we go again. We were up against two USA teams, New Zealand, and Italy. This was a very tight race with a first place finish of 2:24.010; the USA Dragon Dream Team placed second at 2:24.270. Too close!
Day one was over. After a light healthy dinner, we needed to get a good nights’ sleep. Instead of counting sheep, the race pieces floated in our brains over and over again…Hold; Ready Ready; The Start; Race Pace/Middle of the Race; The Finish.