This is a bunny trail, so if you're not inclined to go for the trails, you can skip this part. Whenever I write "the numbers were captured at oh-dark-thirty" I always think of round ups...and the fact that previous dogs that I've owned were Australian Shepherds..who genuinely thought they had a job to do. This is particularly evident when there are also children involved because those Aussies will herd children really well. In the absence of children, they will herd whatever is there. I had one who would round up all the big rocks from the garden, put them in the middle of the yard, and guard them.
My personal experience with cattle round ups came from a team building session. Our leadership team was herded into vehicles and driven into the mountains of Colorado to a dude and dudette ranch. Once there, we were split into teams and had to slam a beer (it was an adult beverage company after all), then lasso a fake steer that was on a hay bale, and then get back in line to do it again. And again. Some of us have little tolerance for alcohol, and let's just say after two or three lasso times, some of us were totally missing the hay bales. Then they put us on horses, and told us to go round up the cattle that were spread out all over the mountainside. They were not kidding. It was bring those cattle in or no soup for you. It was a really long afternoon. Yippee kai yay was not my native language. No people or animals were hurt in this exercise, but some of us needed pillows to sit on after all that horse bouncing. And maybe somewhere along the way we figured out who was all hat and no cowboy.
Capturing numbers much easier. Meanwhile, back at the rowing team...some amazing efforts are underway (as usual). We all love to compete and push ourselves - and we really didn't have much of a chance after the Holiday Challenge to enjoy what we'd accomplished. No matter what the outcome is for this Challenge, we will have rowed hard and pushed beyond what we might have rowed in a usual month. Somewhere after the first week, this astrogator quit thinking about the rankings (even though these are posted all the time). There were more important things going on in this Challenge. We had teammates who were rowing three and four times a day. We had teammates who were rowing two and three times their previous average meters per session. And they were repeating this day after day after day. And, btw, how cool is it that other teams have openly stated that they are inspired by the Overcoming Disabilites team - and how tough it is to keep up with them! Sounds like a very successful Challenge to me - one where you've made a difference in how people (sometimes ourselves) think about what we can do.
It's good to celebrate what we've done...and no, the Challenge isn't finished yet...but we are all getting a bit weary. And people can hurt themselves when they get tired. So take a break when you need to take a break. You are not letting your team down (that is not possible with such tremendous teammates). Life (that unpredictable stuff) has continued all around regardless of where we are in the challenge. Many of our teammates have endured some very hard losses, and some very trying times in the last three weeks. Sometimes rowing is a great escape - one where we can help each other get through some of the unpredictable, unreasonable and unfair things. Trust me (bwaa aaa aaa), Concept2 has designed many more Challenges for us to compete in. And one of the best measures of success is that we don't just show up at Challenge time - we're here year round.
Season meters as of 272/366 = 144,064,284 m And we are at a new milestone....900,000 team meters/person...that's a biggie.
Total meters on the day = 925,013 m
Oars in space (participation) = 42 percent
MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:
5.9 MM Ron
3.7 MM Minnie
2.6 MM Anita
2.45 MM AJ
2.35 MM bg
2.35 MM Roger
2.15 MM Robyn
2.05 MM Ross
1.65 MM Katerina
1.65 MM David T
1.3 MM Kim
1.05 MM Dennis
950 K Chip
450 K Rodrigo
Million Meter Watch:Ron with (99,009 m) to go! What an incredible rowing day you've had today!
Million Meter Watch:Michelle with (118,060 m) to go!
Jim with (216,624 m) to go!
Jerry with (233,098 m) to go!
Rosi with (269,253 m) to go!
Million Meter Watch:Baz with (289,257 m) to go!
Million Meter Watch: Practically a whole herd here!Bobbie with (24,530 m) to go!
Marie with (19,149 m) to go! It really could happen!
Chip with (47,333 m) to go!
Chris H with (70,650 m) to go!
Mitch with (77,820 m) to go!
Marty with (77,448) to go!
K2 with (81,722) to go!
Ken G with (82,979 m) to go!
Jeff P with (114,503 m) to go!
Ted with (147,000 m) to go!
Thanks to all who rowed today!
Steven D 908 m
Ashlee 1,010 m
Jeri 1,500 m
Lily 1,552 m
Kaylee 2,002 m
Tom R 2,179 m
Jeff M 2,252 m
Denny 3,000 m
Dick 3,160 m
Mario Jackson 4,000 m
Terri 4,000 m
Mike C 5,000 m
Jeff G 5,002 m
Karyn 5,239 m
Gene 5,400 m
Jonathan 5,408 m
Bobbie 5,600 m
BJ 6,016 m
Sunny 6,400 m
Raoul 8,015 m
David T 9,000 m
Marty
mTony
mCollin 10,000 m
Jeff P 10,000 m
Jessica 10,000 m
Mike M 10,000 m
Peter H 10,000 m
Ken H 10,525 m
Diana 11,000 m
Harold
mRoss 11,545 m
Nataliya 12,000 m
Sam 12,000 m
Wim 12,000 m
Bruce T 12,921 m
Dennis 13,444 m
Jerry 14,000 m
David A 14,321 m
Elton 14,500 m
Ken G 15,000 m
Roger 15,000 m
Michelle 15,600 m
Rivka 15,780 m
Marie 16,000 m
Sarah 16,000 m
Chip 16,165 m
K2 16,490 m
Christa 17,050 m
Tammy 18,000 m
Anita 19,877 m
Scott
mMinnie 21,933 m
Ron 21,978 m
Cathie 22,000 m
Richard T 22,000 m
AJ 22,100 m
bg
mKaterina 24,000 m
Robyn 25,000 m
Rodrigo-go-go 25,062 m
Jim 27,200 m
Rosi 30,000 m
Jay 31,000 m
Zander 33,000 m
Ronnie 37,000 m
Kim 51,324 m
. I already got my pin and T-shirt yesterday.
It has been on my list of goals and I wanted to try to hit the 6M season and the 10m lifetime on the same day. Whew 
I might take today off 
: Has anyone ever had to deal with a sudden onset, and diagnosis of hypo-thyroidism and the various effects of it? I can't seem to drop the weight that I suddenly gained and it's very frustrating. Does it get better with the medication, or am I stuck with 5 extra pounds? I'm only 5'2" so 5 lbs on me looks like 10 on a woman of average height. (I should never had had that height reduction surgery. 
Minnie 21,098 m 
Cathie 42,000 m
Jay 51,167 m
Ron 100,000 m