Claire Doran
Physics 211X
Fall 2004
"Marathon runners talk about hitting 'the wall' at the twenty-third
mile of the race. What rowers confront isn't a wall; it's a hole - an
abyss of pain, which opens up in the second minute of the race. Large
needles are being driven into your thigh muscles, while your forearms seem
to be splitting. Then the pain becomes confused and disorganized, not
like the windedness of the runner or the leg burn of the biker but an
all-over, savage unpleasantness. As you pass the five-hundred-meter mark,
with three-quarters of the race still to row, you realize with dread
that you are not going to make it to the finish, but at the same time the
idea of letting your teammates down by not rowing your hardest is
unthinkable...Therefore, you are going to die. Welcome to this life."
-- Ashleigh Teitel