run like a girl

basketball? swimming? figure skating? goddamn tennis?? volleyball? cheerleading? gymNASTICS?¿¿??? mma!?

do i hear bowling?? snowboarding??? rowing aka CREW???!???

softball? fuICKNG GIMME AN ALL GIRLS BASEBALL ANIME oR EVEN SOCCER/FOOTBALL/WHATEVERRTHEHELL .

why would anyone chose to row

why would anyone chose to put themselves through such brutality

who would dare put themselves in a position where all their mental and physical ability

stretches its limits every single day

it takes a certain type of person to go out and face their biggest challenges every single day.

it takes a certain type of person to feel a burning in their lungs and breaking pain in their back but continue to give every last bit of themselves until the very last stroke.

it takes a certain type of person to take extreme pain and harness it into something they can use to finish out the job.

why would anyone put themselves through such torture

the heart pounds into the body like a sledgehammer

the lungs gasp at any air they can reach

the legs scorch as they are driven off the foot board

the back is lit with an invisible flame with every pull

old blisters and wounds rip open with every twist

it takes a certain type of person to have their bodies shut down and still continue on

to see their own blood drip down on the oar handles

to have pain invade every part of them and know that they don’t ever give enough

until they cannot physically move.

rowers don’t stop

stopping means ending

they’d let themselves down, the boat down, and the coaches down

all of the harsh training would equal nothing

rowers put in work most people would run away from

rowers chose to endure pain that most others would fall apart at

the ability to give up is easy

in the middle of a piece the rower can easily put down the handle

and just walk way

leaving all of the hard work, effort and time, stilly sitting on the seat of the erg

every rower knows they can quit

but most do not

so why would anyone want to row

a sport were lactic acid is man’s best friend

gouging blisters become a normality

and the constant pain is a constant reality

pain is measured only by what the body can feel

but not what it can endure.

pain will never get in the way of what the rower can accomplish

no matter how much the pain will scream that it is a roadblock to the path of victory.

a rower does not leave a piece until they have given everything they got to the erg or the boat

it’s not optional

it’s what is expected of them

and the expectations provided are only the foundation on what the rower can achieve

it is that need to dump every hour of work into one seven minute race

all the pain, the blood, sweat and tears

to achieve everything the rower has worked for.

until that bow crosses that finish line the rowers do not stop working,

stop believing and stop fighting

to receive so rightfully what they deserve

not one person knows the feel of victory

until they can see it’s brutal marks made on their hands

feel it roar through every muscle fiber

inhale it sharply by each lung

feel it trickle down all parts of their skin

and taste it’s dryness it their mouths

whether the rower set a personal record on their two kilometer test

or won the gold metal in the olympics

all victory tastes the same

harsh, brutal but rewarding

so why would anyone chose to row?

because everyday rowers get to crush their biggest fears

rowers get to hold victory’s hand everyday

You have another hour of practice, you will always have another hour of practice

no one knows how long the old man who fixes the equipment has been there…and neither do the coaches

am I actually injured or just overworked

bow pair doesn’t remember the last time they rowed a boat back to the docks, actually they don’t remember the last time they rowed