I have done something nuts and agreed to take part in the annual rowing competition, Sulkavan Suursoudut, in my home town next summer. My family had a team for it this summer for the first time ever, and it went so smoothly that people seem really keen on doing it again next summer. And since I've been after some sort of fitness related project for ages now to keep me going, I figured that I'll do it too!

Photo: Riku Kettunen

Essentially the competition involves rowing about 60km around a big island on lake Saimaa. You can do it alone, with a partner or as a team (minimum of 14 people I believe). It's pretty much the only thing that happens in my home town all year, and it's the kind of a thing that you should do if you grew up in Sulkava! I guess it could be compared to doing a marathon - unless you're a really hardcore athlete you just do it for the experience, not to win. Next year's competition is actually the 50th year running so I'm hoping it'll be really exciting and lots of people show up for it!

My experience with rowing includes a tiny fiber glass boat my family owns we use simply for checking fish traps. I've never been in one of these big boats that require lots of people, but I'm just going to do my best over here and use the rowing machines at my gym regularly from now on, so I'm not completely dead when it comes to the competition.

I'm going to be writing a lot about my prep and progress from now on, hopefully getting back to the old style of blogging I did back when I first started. Lots of progress rambles, food posts and so on. Wish me luck!