The Big Row

Greetings, Gentle Reader,

This is my first attempt at entering and engaging my own Blog site. Or, just "Blog"? To paraphrase Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, "I have always relied on the kindness of strangers" and the kindness, in this case, is offered by Kathy, who has set me up in cyber-space in a fashion beyond my understanding. To coin another classic, I once attended a wedding where the best man's toast was a succinct, "I hope it works out." It didn't...but I have confidence in Kathy's cyber accumen. So bear with me while I get my electronic bearings.

Yes, Gentle Reader, I'm going for a long row. 450 miles, more or less, to be exact. The why and how of it will, I suspect, reveal themselves as I engage in this journal. And yes, I hope to raise some money in doing it, even though that's not the reason for this escapade, but more on that later.

No, wait.

Let's get the money thing behind us right now, shall we?

Here's how it goes: I'll be asking for pledges...pennies (or dollars, if you're feeling particularly flush) per mile. Tumble the numbers and you will find that a penny a mile adds up to $4.50 in the event that I make it all the way. Two pennies, $9.00, three, $13.50...you get the idea.

And where will these derriere-killing proceeds go? Boys' Latin, where I teach and learn, faces the challenge - as do so many independent schools - of running out of financial aid resources before it runs out of committed, qualified, and needy candidates. The kids I teach are terrific, and financial aid is the magic that places and retains many of them in my classroom. I want to keep them there and, through attempting this journey, foster in them an interest in giving to others...others that they do not yet know, or may never know. So...the long and short of it is that I can think of no better cause to motivate me to row that extra mile than to help these fine fellows persue the best education that they can find and afford. That's the deal, OK? I row, you help a great kid that you may never know...but in helping him, we all are helped. Cosmic.

And...( commercial pause) all pledges will be acknowleged by your receipt of a coveted and stylish, "I'm Pulling With Mr. Frei" button. Peg and Kathy have been working on it...we're stamping metal and headed to the presses next week, and my only concern is the haunting image on the button which has me rowing - ominously? prophetically? hopefully? - to what appears to be the proverbial "Better Place." Pledge, receive the button, and you be the judge.

Making this row has been a burr under my saddle for some time now. Born in Troy, working in Baltimore...sort of a "Birthplace to Workplace" thing, even though that doesn't really sing, it's a trip that screams to be made. My vessel of choice is my Adirondack Guideboat. It's a sweetheart: stable under load, easy to sustain a 4 knot pace, a natural tent when inverted, you can read about it on the attached link that Kathy has set up. More on the boat and planned modfications later.

Without question, I'm the weak link in the plan. I'll be 55 plus a day when I depart, and I'll need to be in a state of fitness materially better than that manifested by the too-sedentary lump which faces the screen this evening. A painful future topic for the Journal, perhaps. While I've begun to address "tuning the engine," at this moment it's feeling more like a major overhaul will be in the works. It's like when the mechanic looks at you and says, "We may have to keep it here overnight." Sigh.

Yes, more on physical preparation in a future journal entries. It won't be pretty, but I promise not to include pictures...unless you pledge the big bucks, or bark like a dog.

Strangely, or perhaps delusionally, the mental prep seems to be going well. I'm not a huge believer in the "paint a positive mental image and it will happen" school of thought...if, indeed, that is "thought" at all. Yet in my mind's eye I've already rowed each leg of this trip many times, with boyish enthusiasm and a plucky spirit that bodes well for success. I don't think that at this point I'm naively enthusiastic; my longest single-day row to-date is a 58 mile day, a day which, I confess, left my posterior in a state of paralysis. A calculus of distance and time suggests that I'll have to string fifteen 30-mile days together to finish this trip in about two weeks. That's fifteen days, day after day, with no hot showers, no deep fat, no hot fudge. Nonetheless, with proper prep and training, patience, a recognition that I will most likely have some 15 mile days when the wind and/or current are on the nose and maybe some 40 + mile days when everything is jake, a dollop of luck and a bucket of Absorbine Junior, it just might be possible.

Plus, the kids. It will help some kids, remember? That'll be good for a few extra pulls each evening.

So...soon we (Kathy) will be setting up the site so that should you wish to pledge, you can. Or, you can always write to me c/o The Boys' Latin School, 822 West Lake Ave., Baltimore, MD 21210...and I'll take it from there. As I understand it, there is already a way for you to offer words of encouragement, caution, or counsel on the site..and I would love to hear from you, whoever you are.

I hope you will pop on the site periodically to see what's going on in my head. Above all, I expect this trip to be as cerebral as it will be physical, and that's the point of the journal...and maybe even the catalyst for the trip itself. After all, rowing 450 miles gives one a chance for...um...how you say....quiet time? Yes. Quiet contemplation.

So to Peg & Kathy, thanks for your help... and for your grace in keeping what must be "You're nuts!!" out of earshot.

More next week.

Love, and row....

Al