Henley Day Eight: Race Day (Part 1)

It's 6:38 AM and the coffee is just starting to percolate well and I thought I would fire off a quick couple of thoughts. There's a pretty steady drizzle and it's fairly cool so I would imagine that the boat launching area will be a little muddy and the spectators won't be so happy. But nevertheless the wind seems to have died down from the last couple of days making all of the rowers a little happier.

The hours before a race never seem completely normal and certainly as an athlete feelings range from 'I don't know if I can do this' to 'let's get this over with' to 'I can't wait to get out there and show everyone what I can do' to a very business-like 'I know exactly what I have to do to get the job done'. What I would love is that both crews come off the water this morning excited about how they raced, satisfied with their preparation up until this point, and hopefully, looking forward to a race this afternoon.