I can't believe it...even in the virtual world I am running late
I hope you all saved some chocolate and good food for me. My internet was down yesterday, so I couldn't drop on by for the party, but did manage to have enough bandwidth operating to get my meters logged to end the season. Whew!
Thanks for dropping by, Pat! Great to hear from you, as always.
Captain's Command Decision:
We are going to keep this Team Room running as our ongoing and only "One-Stop-Shopping" place to be a LUNA-TIC. As years and challenges come and go, this will be
the place for us to hang out together. We will only archive this room (or portions of it) if C2 dictates we have to. I believe there is a richness in the history we are building with one another, and it is fun to look back through the postings once in awhile.
Word of Encouragement:
After finishing my marathon row yesterday, I can say that it did not hurt as bad (during or after) as the first one. I really think the first one is the worst one, so if you just get that one out of the way it will be better the next time. Not everyone is an endurance athlete. Some are built for speed. Some are not athletic at all. Everyone should feel great about just getting on the rower in the first place. Every day that you decide to do some exercise (whatever it may be) is a day that you have conquored your body's natural desire to do nothing, and that is a good thing (as long as you also remember to give your body some nothing days every now and then, too.)
Captain's Log: Yearbook entry.
This team experience has been truly amazing and a lot of fun. I never imagined that my accidental captaining of the LUNA-TICS for a team challenge would grow into something so fun and rewarding as what you all have made this team into. Apart from the time we all spend on this forum sharing our thoughts and our lives with each other, our C2 team affiliation is nothing more than an entry in a computer form. Every one of you who posts here, and even those team mates who have not posted, but keep on logging those meters every week, have made this team what it is. It is pretty amazing when you stop and think about it. So I just want to say "Thank you" to everyone here for becoming a part of my life in this way, and making exercise so much fun.
Recap of past team history:
Keep in mind that a person's meters will "follow" them if they change teams, so if someone was on the LUNA-TICS team in 2003 and they changed teams after that, their picture and meters do not still show up in the LUNA-TICS stats for 2003. Likewise, if a person was recording meters in their logbook in any year, and they only recently joined the LUNA-TICS, their profile and meters will be showing up as a LUNA-TICS team member for each year that they have logged meters, even if they did not belong to any team in those years. So these stats are only partially reflective of the actual team mates, numbers and meters for each year.
2003 - Virtual Teams instituted by C2. Matt Forsbacka, being slightly influenced by his work for NASA founds the LUNA-TICS year-round team. His goal? To row to the moon. Calling all hands...Calling all hands...
The year end stats show 7 team mates, and the team placing #72 out of 1437 teams that year. Total team meters: 3,874,123.
2004 - The year end stats show 11 team mates and the team placing #94 out of 1233 teams in existence that year. Total team meters: 4,500,044.
2005 - The year end stats show 15 team mates and the team placing #71 out of 1211 teams in existence that year. Total team meters: 8,321,188.
2006 - The year end stats show 19 team mates and the team placing #72 out of 1066 teams in existence that year. Total team meters: 8,507,331.
2007 - Formation of the LUNA-TICS challenge team by Kristine Strasburger. The year end stats show 25 team mates and the team placing #47 out of 1137 teams in existence that year. Total team meters: 14,265,122.
2008 - Challenge team captain discovers the C2 forum, and begins team recruiting efforts for the Holliday Challenge. LUNA-TICS Team Room on the forum established. The year end stats show 59 team mates and the team placing #11 out of 1234 teams in existence that year. Total team meters: 48,110,121.
I think these stats prove that the forum participation is a huge factor in helping people achieve their goals, and in setting goals they never thought possible. Everyone is encouraged by sharing our lives with one another, so thanks again to all of you for taking the time out of your day to visit with us here. You never know whose life you are affecting in a positive way with your presence and words.
Future Projections:
Apart from the obvious goal of shooting for the moon and beyond with you crazy people, I think it would be very cool to plan a special LUNA-TICS Team Party in real life every year at the C.R.A.S.H. B regatta. This is a real life competition open to all ages and abilities, and looks like it is a phenomenal experience.
I would love to establish a tradition that there is a LUNA-TICS team get-together for dinner the night before the competition. Anyone on the team who happens to be there that year can then plan to get together at a local restaurant for a Team party.
The competition is always at the end of February in Boston, so there is plenty of time to plan for it. It might provide that needed incentive to go ahead and give it a try, and it would make it even more fun to be there, knowing we had some fellow LUNA-TICS there to cheer us on. We might even start a new C2 tradition with this idea. Here is the link to read about this competiton:
http://www.concept2.com/us/training/rac ... efault.asp
C2 has a free video of footage from one of these regattas, and it is very inspirational and motivational. One lady competitor on the video is in her mid-80's. The only age limit is for younger rowers.
I have never gone to one of these, but have always wanted to.
Maybe next year could be the year.
Thanks for a great year, everyone!