This is why I am a rower.

This morning I attended another NMMU Rowing practice, and I was reminded exactly why I fell in love with this sport.  I was picked up from Annies Cove at 4:45am, and practice started at 5:30am until about 7:15am.  The sun was just starting to rise over the mountains off in the distance, the water was like glass, and it had the perfect reflection of the river banks and the sunrise in the water.  Perfection.
I was in a double (for those of you who arnt familiar, a double is a sculling boat, so each person has two oars, and there are two people in the boat.  Basically this boat does the work of a 4 person boat, where each person has one oar each.) with a girl that was a second year on the NMMU Rowing Team.  The entire row was super smooth and we really clicked right away, even though we had never rowed together before.  We went probably 3k in total, just kind of rowing and enjoying the sunrise.  It felt so good to be back in the swing of things and watching the sunrise with the perfect water was so enjoyable.
As we were bringing the boat in, Emily, the girl I rowed with, told me "You did a good job, your a really good rower!"  I was so pleased to hear that!  On the way back from the river, about a twenty minute drive, it was nice to get to know Emily and just get to know other members of the team.
Today reminded my why I love this sport so much.  The settings are usually stunning.  The perfect water and sunset.  I couldnt ask for anything else at 5am.  Its hard to explain to those that arnt rowers, but when the only sound you hear is the rythem of your breathing and the oars in and out of the water while watching the sunrise, there is no other feeling in the world, and at the time, there is nothing else that matters in the world.  Its an escape, and even though your exercising, you still feel peaceful.  Rowing is also a sport where you meet so many, cool unique people, and they become like a second family.  I dont know that many of my new teammates yet, but from what Emily tells me that the NMMU team is like one big family.  This makes me so happy.  All I can say, is I love rowing!