Back in the single and back to real life

It has been a great transition these last few months since Aiguebelette.  A quick recap.

Keara and I spent several days after the regatta traveling France and doing the tourist thing.  I missed out on the post-race party scene, much to my chagrin.  After so many months away from home and immersed in rowing, I was immediately ready to kick my feet up and relax with Keara.

I got back into the 1x as soon as I got home and started putting in the miles.  I committed myself to training only once per day until the fall academic quarter was over.  I needed time to address all of the life chores that had piled up while I had been gone.

At the top of the list, over the summer I decided to suspend indefinitely my pursuit of my doctoral degree at the University of Washington.  I had reached the stage in my work where all of my focus would now be on my dissertation, and the prospect of spending three more years of late nights with little or no money coming in, stressing out over presentations, did no excite me.  I gave notice to the powers that be at the University and confirmed that this would be my last quarter.  I am spending my time teaching and taking a class just to round things out for me.

So what now?!  I have that master's degree, and a pretty solid quantitative background.  So I decided to go the actuarial route.  Before I get flack for selling out, I have to explain the mast plan here.  I have applied for and been offered an internship at Liberty Mutual.  They're a large firm with offices in (wait for it) Boston and Seattle.  The hope is to convert the internship to a full-time position and start a career with a company with will allow my some flexibility between these two cities so I can continue to race and train.  Actuaries have pretty solid work schedules, and the first few exams shouldn't require too much prep on my part thanks to my background.  So hopefully in a year, I'll be bringing in some real money, city hopping, and training like a boss, as always.

My plan is to hold out for 2017 at this point.  I'm not an Olympian.  I wish I was, but I'm not.  I know I'm an OK rower, but I'm not a Campbell, or Konieczny, or Daly.  I might fall somewhere in the top 20 lightweight rowers, but to be an Olympian, you have to solidly be in the top 6 (or go big like Graves).  So this year I am going to be focused on fitness and development so that I can lay the groundwork for an opportunity to race in front of a home crowd in Sarasota.  To me, that sounds incredible.  Whatever boat I can make, as fast as I can make it.

With this long term plan, the fall has been chill.  Head of the Charles was fun, and while we finished further back than we'd like, it was really the most likely outcome given our lack of training since France.  Head of the Lake was a good race this year, with representatives from Italian, Canadian, and American National Teams.  And now I am chugging away biking and running and lifting until school dies off and I can get back to some major mileage.  I am planning to race at Trials this year, and while I am not making plans to travel this summer, if I can get some feisty bros in Seattle, I would love to make some magic.