07 November 2011

Catching Crabs and Making New Friends...

Some people catch crabs from new friends. But this post is not about those kinds of crabs. Or those kinds of friends ;-)

"Keep the oars in front of you!
is what a good friend used to shout whenever I shoved off the dock to head out for a race. 
Here's why...

This video is an extreme example...the athlete is not often ejected from the boat, 
but the speed of the boat is nearly always significantly negatively affected.
If the crab occurs in a race leading to a loss, the athlete's teammates may well wish to eject him or her on their own.

Crabs are usually the result of bad form which can be brought on by exhaustion, faulty rigging, crappy conditions (choppy water, floating or fixed detritus), or an oarsman's inherently poor technique. Also daydreaming or distraction.

Many rowing terms can be analogous to life situations. I am sure we have all caught a crab or two in the course of living life. What is important is how quickly we are able to recover from our crabs. In the past month or so, I've caught quite a few crabs. I've been exhausted and distracted. And I am just not the most socially adept person around to begin with...I'll be the first to admit that. I think my gaffes have hit every area of my life...training, parenting, relationship, blogging, friends... sheesh... everything.

What do I do when this happens?

Recognize, refocus, apologize, and rest up so that I am better prepared to handle the adverse conditions the next time. Then I figure out what went wrong and where so that I can improve my 'technique' and 'conditioning' in an attempt to not catch a crab for that reason again!

The other piece of this post is:  my new friend!

I have a running buddy! Yay! I have been running with her most weekends since September. She is fun and funny and energetic. She pulls me along when my old lady butt is dragging. She pushes me just the right amount :) She is @sarahlouwou who has a blog on which she hasn't been posting for months...which pretty much makes her even more supercool in my eyes.

Here is what we did yesterday...


While this looks Himalaya-esque, the only really hard parts are that hill in the middle and that very long uphill portion from 4.5 to about 6 miles...mostly it's just rolling and beautiful. We ran these 8.2 miles after running 2 other miles that are not on this elevation profile. They were the pre-bathroom miles. 10.23 miles in 1:43:29 which is 10:05 avg pace. It was a perfect morning for running :) If you would like to see pictures of where we ran... and it is lovely... click here



View Larger Map

This will also be the course for my Jingle Bell Hell 1/3 Marathon (or a little less!) on December 17th. I'll be posting more details about this race/fun-run in the very near future, so if you're local or planning to be in town (could be a great destination race...hahahahahahaha) put it on your calendar!

And I am assembling a super fun giveaway package in celebration of suckering in winning over my 500th follower... so be on the lookout!

Have you made new friends or caught crabs lately?



15 comments:

  1. Congrats on finding a running buddy, good ones are hard to come by

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  2. So glad you found someone to run with! On those long runs it really helps!!

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  3. Yay on the running friend, that has to be really nice for those longer runs, eh?!? I've been running some with my neighbor and it's a nice diversion from my feeble mind!

    No more crabs, girl! All sunshine and happiness here, right? ;)

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  4. You had me at crabs :)

    Congrats on the 500 followers! I'm making a big leap to hit 50!

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  5. I love the expression on her face before she went overboard. May your crabs be well buried in the sand.
    Hmmm 12/17 is a Saturday this year? Maybe I'll seek out a birthday race...

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  6. I'd like a running buddy someday. I have plenty of cycling buddies it just seems to be the next logical step.

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  7. That video was awesome, brought me back to my rowing days in college where I caught a few (luckily never thrown from the boat). Glad you found a new running buddy and have 500 followers!

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  8. I think I've had crabs for about a month. Most likely I just needed a few nights of sleep and daylight savings time to tend.
    Here's to running buddies! Beautiful run too.

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  9. I will parrot BDD, Rain, and Jill: Running partners rock.

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  10. Haha, do I get a prize for being follower #502?

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  11. yay for running buddies! So helpful in training. I don't know what I would do without my running buddy to get me out the door and through some of those long runs... that I used to do...before this stupid PF...ah crabs...

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  12. running buddy! I got one and she is much younger than me!!! She comes with me for my long runs. She is much faster than me..more like in your pace actually but now she has to slow down because theres a baby on the way!!!

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  13. So cool that you found someone to run with! No crabs here. And 500..woot woot!

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  14. Ah! I learned about catching crabs from some of MY running buddies! (We have an ab exercise we do after a run that looks like rowing -- but way less graceful. One of them mentioned catching crabs, and I, non-rower, was totally appalled! Then they explained.) :)

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