Back on the Charles

 After another great week on the Chestertown River in Maryland (see Bamy’s previous recap), it feels good to be home.  Despite missing my roommates (shout out to Bams, Coogs, and Shernaz), and catching up on every episode of Say Yes to the Dress between practices, having hardboiled eggs in the morning, wearing clean workout clothes, and  getting back into the swing of things at Wellesley is really nice.

                When we arrived back on campus late on Saturday night, all of us who lived in Beebe hung out while we did our laundry. We also tackled a banana that I had left in my trash over break. I was scared that there would be some bugs crawling, so Tex took over as my life coxswain (first year skit reference!) and walked me down the hall to the big trash can while Maggie West was on call for a bug emergency. Luckily, there wasn’t. Then in exchange for washing her hat with my load of laundry and using my cool stain remover, Paige Swiffered my room. Talk about teamwork!

Back to rowing… Our first practice back on the Charles was this morning and we were welcomed with temperatures in the mid-30s. Even in the dark, we efficiently rigged out boats and resettled into our daily rhythm. Once out on the water, it was great to see other crews getting ready for some spring racing! There is communal energy on the Charles that, from my (limited) rowing experience, I don’t know if you can find anywhere else. Even at 5am, people are out on the river, old and young, in singles and eights, doing the same sport and loving every minute of it.

Before we got out on the water, however, we split up into boats to talk about some short-term goals for the week. Each boat seems like they have some great intentions and I know that everyone is using these objectives to get ready for our race day on Sunday at WPI.

Unfortunately, tomorrow we have indoor practice because the weather is supposed to drop to dangerously low temperatures. It’s kind of a bummer after having 2-a-day practices in sunny 70-degree weather, but it really makes you appreciate the time you have out on the water. I know that we will capitalize on every minute when we are back on the Charles and get some serious speed going.

                Dream fast and go blue!

                Jessica “Miss Chestertown-Springbreak” Frey ’13