LAKE MERIDIAN WAS THE LOCATION OF OUR DRAGON BOAT RACE

Wow, what a beautiful venue!  My paddling mates had told me how awesome Lake Meridian was and it lived up to the hype.

We had perfect weather for our fun day of racing.  We didn't make it to the finals but we did really well and I'm happy with our day.
I'm already looking forward to next year's Lake Meridian race!

PADDLE FOR LIFE

in Vancouver, Washington is a non-profit organization benefiting disabled veterans.  Today was their first fundraiser and we participated.

Some heats we won and some we lost.  Many races were incredibly close.  One race we won by 100th of a second!  One we lost by 1/2 a second.  Whether we won or lost a heat, we had a blast.

One of the last heats included a boat of disabled veteran paddlers and a boat of Air Force paddlers.  While they were getting out of the canoes, everyone grabbed their paddles and created a paddle arch for them to walk under.  It was moving and really cool to be a part of.

My awesome team mates.  We got 4th place in the boat of 10 paddlers mixed team category.

My favorite photo of the day I took.

We didn't have enough women for a boat of 20, so we combined with two other teams and created team Awesome Sauce.  We got first place in the all woman category.  (We were the only all women 20 boat - ha!)  We held our own against the mixed teams of 20 and gladly took our paddling bling.

Next year they are going to make it a two day event.  Can't wait!

PS - Photo credit for the racing photos and team photos goes to Larry.

RAINIER DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL

in Tacoma was my first dragon boat race this weekend.  I've been paddling with Pax Bellatoris (latin for Peace Dragon Warriors), a mixed team, since the end of last summer. (Peace Dragon Warriors is the all woman team.)  Today was the day to show the results of our hard work.

I couldn't stop looking at this gorgeous view!

We had gorgeous weather, surrounded by happy people, we were proud of our race results and we left exhausted - every ounce of energy was left on the water.  It was wonderful.

PADDLING ON THE WILLAMETTE THREE DAYS A WEEK, RAIN OR SHINE, IN A 40 FOOT DRAGON BOAT

with 20 paddlers is fun, hard work, fun, exhausting, fun and did I say fun?

Larry and I joined a paddling club!  It's been a whole lot of awesome, topped with awesome sauce.  It makes me happy with a capital H and SORE.