4 days and counting

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Holiday Challenge 2006
Looking for a little extra motivation to row this holiday season? Our Annual Online Holiday Challenge starts on Thanksgiving Day!

4 days...4 days until the Challenge begins. It's also 4 days until Thanksgiving. Both bring me some measure of anxiety. Obviously for different reasons.

The Challenge

Donna and I have done the Challenge...4 or 5 years now. Maybe as many as six. For then non-rower the Challenge is 200,000 meters on a Concept 2 rowing ergometer between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Works out to be about 45 minutes per day.

One year Donna brought her erg to my fire station on Thanksgiving Day and we did our 1st 10,000 together on the back ramp. One year we erged on Thanksgiving day in the parking lot outside her apartment downtown. We don't start together any more but we do celebrate when we both reach 100,000. Usually I need to finish early so I can leave for Texas and not drag an erg with me. The year we stayed home I did my last few meters Christmas morning.

The Challenge has taken on great significance for me. It's the way I kick off my New Year, feeling fit and strong. It's the way I keep from turning into a 400 lb slob while eating...pretty much at will over the Holidays. It's a way to encourage and inspire the people I coach...several of whom now also meet the Challenge.

The USRowing convention falls right in the middle of the Challenge. Concept 2 brings in 15-20 ergs for the convention goers to use. Every time Tracy, Sharon and I talk about what fun we had last year in Baltimore we talk about one of our erg sessions...crazy but fun. We'll erg this year in Portland.

If you are a rower I recommend the Challenge. You will finish the winter indoor season in better shape than ever and get a cool t-shirt to boot! If you are not a rower challenge yourself to 200,000 of something or 45 minutes per day. My step mom does 45 on the treadmill. It works!

Thanksgiving

For some crazy reason I've volunteered my house for our holiday meal. Kim is on call and can't leave KC so we knew we'd need to have our meal here instead of going to Mom's. Kim's house is bigger (much bigger) and it would have made more sense to eat there but...9 of us will squeeze into my house for turkey and all the trimmings.

I'm excited because I've never had everyone to my house for a holiday. I've got dishes that match, the proper table cloth, enough wine glasses and I've planned the menu. One thing about a small house and a smaller group is the intimacy. I'm excited because we will all sit at the same table , no kid's table, no one in the living room. We'll have 4 generations from Alan's folks to Kim's boys.

I'm very thankful.