My gym hosted a fundraiser for the Fort Collins Rowing Association, a marathon-length rowing competition that I signed up for immediately. I have been a part of a rowing marathon once before, over a year ago, and have been itching to get back into it — though this time I opted for a team of 6 instead of a team of 4. Many legs make light work.

Our dream team ended up being Linda (I can’t — nay, won’t — row without Linda!), Bev, Brandi and Jeff (also from the gym), and Dan. Yes, my Dan.

A rowing marathon is the same distance as a running marathon, but it is measured in meters: 42,195 to be exact. Our team divvied the distance up in 5-minute increments, with each teammate taking 6-7 turns (6-7,000 meters each, total) and an all-out sprint at the end.

Though our entire team worked their asses off, I am especially proud of Dan, whose first experience with rowing was roughly a week ago. He has been training at home to participate in the marathon and today he killed it.

There were 6 teams competing and we finished last, at 3 hours and 8 minutes. (Winning this thing was never the goal. Finishing it was the goal.)

However, the Rowing Association gave us an improvised award for “most extra workouts done during the marathon.” We were in our home gym, we couldn’t resist working on pull-ups (Jeff) and deadlifts (Bev, Brandi) between our sprints.

Congratulations to all rowers involved. Let’s do it again soon!