Post Row

This past Sunday was my big B-Day Row where I completed 45,000 meters of rowing to raise money for Girls With Sole.

What an interesting experience. 

Aimee arrived at Coca Crossfit around 7:15 to get me set up and started by 7:30.  The first spinning session started at 8 so we greeted people as they began showing up.

I completed my "warmup" row in 25 minutes.  This would be the slowest pace I wanted to go at..being a 2:30/500m.

In between 5k's I would walk around to stretch, drink and eat.  I needed to treat this like a half Ironman since I would be at it for approximately 4.5 hours.  I forgot to take a picture of my second 5k, but all of my splits are down below on the whiteboard.

I decided that I would do every third row on the row machine we affectionately call the Beast.  This machine is ooooolllllllllddddddd.  Definitely not as smooth as the newer machines.  But it did have a cushier seat that would help provide some comfort for my posterior.  At the end for of my third 5k my time was in the low 24's.

In the next picture you can see some of the bikes used to spin while I was rowing.  It was nice to have the distraction of Tom and the girls while I was rowing.  The music Aimee and Kelly selected also provided some good beats.  I found some good rhythm at times.

 Someone got a picture of me rowing and sporting the Snakebite Racing top. 

Two hours in and I started the 5th 5k with a new group of spin girls.  Some of them carried over from the first group and rode 3 hours to my 4.5 of rowing.  Those are some awesome friends to stick around for a double spin.

Pictured below you can see my neighbor Nina.  She grabbed her husbands bike and trainer to come out and support me.  She did awesome and enjoyed the 90 minute workout.

Row #6 was back on the Beast.   My first 5k under 24 minutes.  Definitely some good tunes to make me pick up the pace.

I forgot to take a picture of Row #7.  My time was slightly slower because my forearms were started to cramp.  I've had sore forearms from pull-ups and rope climbs before but nothing like this.  My arm would cramp and my index finger would curl towards my palm.  I had to massage both arms and straighten my finger out.  I also switched to a bicep curl row to change things up.


Below is row #8.  40k meters, 4 hours, 2 spin sessions. 

This is Liz Ferro, founder of Girls With Sole.  She felt bad leaving me but I told her it was okay because Coca was about to fill up with people competing in the Crossfit Games Open WOD.  So I would be seeing some more friends coming in.

This is the 9th and final 5k of rowing.  I finished on the Beast in 21:58.  The extra seconds were because I had to pull the handle to wake up the display again.

When I left Coca I had with me $300 from people giving me cash and checks during my time rowing.  Add to that some on-line donations of $175 and my B-Day check from Grandma & Grandpa, my rowing generated $525 for Girls With Sole.

That breaks down to about $11.67 per 1,000 meters rowed.  I can live with that.  I can also live with the temporary pain in my arms because I know the help Liz and GWS provides to girls in the Cleveland area is priceless and very beneficial.

Next up is the Girls With Sole Swim-a-Thon on Sunday.  Not quite sure how I will recover for the swim but I'll put forth my best effort again for GWS. 

So if you want to give in honor of my rowing or wait and see how many yards I can swim this Sunday my donate link is below.

Game On.

http://www.active.com/donate/keeptri-ing/eric_gibb