Hi all. Just a quick one here as I find myself so busy, I haven't even written about my races in my journal yet! My nap is calling me...

Today, Portia and I had an awesome pair race for our semifinal. We did exactly our race plan and executed really well. I think it was one of my best pair races ever. Portia said it was for her as well. I am really proud of what we were able to do after only practicing together for six days.

We held our own with a really tight field and were oh so close to making the A final. Our start was clean, there were five boats across for a good way. With a good bit of head wind, we really had a chance to use our legs and fire away (hence, the really slow times for the day). Then, for the second half of the race, there were four boats across going for the three qualifying positions. With each move, we took seats. I could hear my coach yelling from his bike, "You're moving, you're moving," and it gave me good bursts of confidence that we could pull it off. Coming into the last 250, I snuck a peak and swear we had China by a seat. There was no more room to look, only time to go, so we drove it hard to the line. I eventually saw the board read USA next to the 4 and was so sad that we were so close. We raced a great field including the Olympic silver medalists (BLR) and two world cup gold medalists (NZL and CHI).

We get a second shot to qualify the US pair for the Olympics as we strive to take top two in the B final. This is the major goal for Saturday. Joining us in the B final will be last years world champions from Canada. It really was a tough, tight year to race the pair with many fast crews. It's not over yet though and Portia and I will be gunning for it on Saturday.

I'm sad to report that it looks like my original pair partner, Megan Cooke, will be unable to recover in time for Saturday's final. She has torn something around the disk in her back and it just isn't getting better in time. So, please keep her in your prayers as she continues to recover. She is one of the most amazing rowers I have had the chance to row with and is deeply missed.

As for yesterday, the eight rep went really well. We have picked up speed and learned some things from our heat. We won a well fought race against Great Briton and China. We will continue to pick up speed as we head to the A final on Sunday. The final will be a really tight race that should come down to the final meters to determine the World champs. Top five get the automatic to the Olympics so everyone will be putting out their best shot.

Ahhh, the nap is really calling me now. Thanks for cheering and I'll try to keep you all posted! Remember, www.row2k.com/worlds and www.worldrowing.com for up to date info!

Today, we had a solid race in our eight. We had a good start and push through the 1250. Australia steadily took back our four seat lead and pushed through the sprint. We are eager to have another go and get faster with each practice and race. Time to get ready for our next practice already! My next race will be the rep for the eight on Wednesday. Until then...

That was actually quite thrilling. Portia and I had a great race in the pair today. We needed to be top three to move on directly to the semis, and we got third.

We had a nice start, were right with the pair that placed 2nd last year and hanging with the two time Olympic champions. Now if we can just get our sprint down. Not too bad for our second day of rowing together.

Sorry to make this a short one, but I'm pretty tired from my day and have to get up and race the eight in the morning! We need to win to move directly to the final. I'm very excited to race with these women. It is our first race together in this new line up and it should be fun.

It is race time. The heat for the women’s pair is tomorrow morning and I am really ready to race. However, my incredible pair partner (whom I have raced with last year and this year to many a World Cup medal, we’ve been through so many races together for the better, and is my all around pair buddy) hurt her back enough so that she is unable to race tomorrow. She is one of the toughest women I know and is very positive, so this may not be season ending. Who knows what it will be like in a few days?

But, no worries. Mrs. Portia McGee will be bowing the US women’s pair tomorrow. Portia is also an amazing athlete. In our two short rows today, she has picked it up no problem. We are already set to take on the world tomorrow!

Portia, like Megan, is a bear. Megan is Cal bear and Portia is a Brown bear, even though she grew up in Seattle. How is it that I keep rowing with past nemesis from college? This is no longer a problem though as Portia has recently been converted to the Husky family after dodging this for years. Her husband, Luke McGee, will be the new freshman coach at UW! Go Huskies and Bear converts!

All the fun aside, I am truly hoping Megan feels better soon and Portia is there no matter what. Please keep her in your prayers. As for me, this is just like training and we practice for this sort of thing all year long. I’m on my toes!

Remember, you can watch all the racing live and keep tabs on the world at www.worldrowing.com and www.row2k.com/worlds .

Guten tag! The US team has arrived safe and sound in Munich, Germany. We are all settled into a wonderful hotel that is only fifteen to twenty minutes from the course by bus. I’ll give you a little update on our trip so far.

I’m finally just about over the adventure that was our experience flying here and the resounding jet lag. When we left on Friday, the 17th, I was with just a small group from the team. It was only our women’s eight, pair and coach. We were excited to be leaving a day ahead of the rest and eager to get acclimated to Germany. However, this was not to be!

We left the boathouse at 1:30 pm and took a bus to Newark airport. We arrived and got on the plane scheduled to depart at 6 pm, just in time for a huge thunderstorm. This put us two hours late getting into London’s Heathrow airport. The airport was a zoo of people. It took us about two hours just to get to the next terminal, where of course by then we had missed about three flights that could have taken us to Munich. By the time all ten of us were scheduled on the next flight together, we had to wait five more hours. This wasn’t so bad and I took a nap. Then, with about an hour to go when we were awaiting what gate to head to, our flight was cancelled!

We went through security one more time, re-checked our bags (only after 7 had been lost), and finally made it on the plane and out of the abyss that is Heathrow. It had been 11 hours since we arrived for our supposedly short layover.

All was good at that point as when we arrived at our hotel, there was a Bavarian room all set up for a three course meal by candle light where we listened to our team manager tell stories from her recent trip to the site of next year’s Olympics.

Things here now are pretty much as good as can be expected. Each one of the lost bags slowly arrived. We have had some rain and some sunshine and many great meals. We row twice a day and I have been in the pair in the morning and in the eight in the evening. Yesterday, we did our first round of hard work on the water and we still have our speed! Also, we are located not too far from the city center, which will be fun later!

As fare as what I’m up to outside of rowing twice a day? The big event that happened yesterday was that my parents came by to say hello in between adventures on their European vacation. It was so good to see them in person and show them my engagement ring for the first time. In not so exciting happenings to others, but exciting to me, I finished reading Wish You Well by David Baldacci last night, read many articles online, and written some long emails home. Also, I found a fun place to shop as there is a big grocery store that reminds me of a Super Target just a five minute walk down the street. I have already bought some baby presents for family, a few dark chocolate bars, and a birthday present for my niece (a very cool kiddie Euro style backpack, with umbrella of course… she can’t read yet so no worries about keeping this a surprise).

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little banter on the comings and goings here in Munich. It should be a bit more exciting once the racing picks up! Can you tell that I have some free time on my hands? This is a very good thing as the legs are resting and ready to row. It’s just about time.

Sorry it has been so long since my last post, but well, I've been busy getting engaged and things like that. Not to mention rowing a bit throughout the day.

First, a quick update. At the first and third World Cup Regattas held in Linz, Austria and Lucerne, Switzerland, my pair partner and I came home both times with the silver. We are very proud of our efforts and still a bit hungry for gold. It was just enough to keep us on the edge. In the mean time, we have been training and picking up great speed. I have posted a few pictures from Lucerne, so be sure to check out the photo link on the left side of the page.

In the past month, we have also finished with selection at the US training camp. I have earned a seat in the women’s eight and am really excited about that too! This means that I will be doing double time, but I am totally up for the task. Megan and I both did this last year and three other crews are doing the same thing for the pair and the eight. It can be done! Just look at the Romanians who won two gold medals at the 2004 Olympics!

Well, let us get down to business, shall we?

I am off tomorrow, Friday August 17. My team flys to Munich, Germany where we will train for about one week before racing starts on August 26th. Every other day is racing for either the pair or the eight, so I will never race twice in one day. There are 12 women’s pairs and 10 women’s eights. A great field! The finals for the pair are September 1st and the eight final is on September 2nd. Both boats need to place in high rank in order to qualify for next year’s Olympic Games!

Please keep posted at the www.worldrowing.com website for all the latest on schedules, results, even pictures. Another wonderful up to date site is www.row2k.com.

Thank you for all your support!
-Anna