Racing My Younger Self

I found a row in the logbook from 4 November 2010: 7,916 metres in half an hour. In the comments I'd written “@20 spm in work gym”. The stroke-rate field is blank, so twenty is what I wrote at the time. The distance and time are there in the result.

On 9 November 2026 I rowed 7,919 metres in half an hour on the static Concept2, with 20 strokes a minute recorded. Sixteen years and three metres. At this rate I’ll need a fairly long run-up.

Of course, 7,916 was just one entry. By 16 February 2011 there was an 8,100 in the logbook. Then 8,240 on 9 March and 8,416 on 11 May. On 16 July 2013, there was 8,668. My younger self was kind enough to leave the targets in writing. He could have made the last one a bit more considerate.

The three metres make a good headline, but the run of results is the bit I keep coming back to. There’s a lot of rowing between 7,916 and 8,668. I’ve edged one line in the old logbook. There are a few more lines yet.