It’s a tale worth telling, an eye-opener, a wake-up call. Many of us have such a tale, in one form or another. This one is mine.
The story starts around a campfire, in the snow, where my best pals of prep school and I, now some 50-odd years later, gather each year, religiously, to warm ourselves with brandy and cigars, laugh over old times, share the annual news, and reaffirm a lifetime of friendships. We camp each winter in the snow as our annual get-together. Each year one of us picks the spot, most often somewhere different as an added element of adventure. We congratulate ourselves, not so silently, on our manhood, throwing large logs on the fire and pretending it’s not really below freezing. As the brandy is poured, so it becomes the truth. Other truths are shared as well about family, work, pleasures, and pastimes. We laugh together and, far too often as we age, we grieve together.
The brotherhood began at St. Andrews and has remained loyal into adulthood. Most of us were rowers on the St. Andrews crew team at the time and several of the fellas have continued to row on masters’ programs as adults. That’s why in 2016, when I heard that two young friends of our family, Chloe Tong and Willoughby Buxton, whom I admire greatly, were starting Eastern Shore Community Rowers, a masters’ rowing team here in Easton, I signed right up. I had always loved crew at St. Andrews as a boy, and as I was one of the few without bragging rights and ergometer scores in our circle in the snow every year, I couldn’t wait to get on the water. I had visions of licking my pals in a crew regatta sometime in the near future and reliving it with laughter each winter after. I also know rowing is one of the best exercises – and this is why I am telling this story.
I’ve been rowing with ESCRowers since we started in 2016. We are on the water from April to December. I row only a few days a week, but those few days a week have been transformative to my health. So much so that my cardiologist exclaimed when I had a heart attack some time ago, “that if it weren’t for rowing, you would not have survived.”
One might argue that it was rowing that encouraged a the attack, but we all know it’s the lifestyle and genetics that puts us at risk. As my friends will attest, I have spent a lifetime working hard and playing hard. I enjoy a good meal after a long day and love to celebrate the holidays. I “live life large,” as my St. Andrews buddies would say. So it is without surprise that I felt very faint after a row last year and one of my teammates, a registered nurse, saw the signs. I was taken to Anne Arundel Medical, an hour’s ambulance drive, and within 12 hours, I was receiving a stint. I was lucky, they said, and that” the healthy condition of my heart was what saved my life.“
Rowing is not, as most would think, an upper body sport. It works the deep core muscles from the triceps down by pushing off the shoe platform with a sliding seat. As well as an excellent cardio workout, it builds external and internal muscles, strengthening my heart and surrounding muscles. (It also makes it especially good for those of us who work in offices most of the day, as it has strengthened my back muscles, which suffer from sitting too long.)
There were many days when I would have skipped showing up if I could. Another huge benefit for rowing is that it is a team commitment. Once Coach Chloe assigns you a seat that week, there is no hitting the snooze button or you will leave the boat with an empty seat and your teammates won’t let you live it down. But it’s worth the early morning rise. We meet of Evergreen at Easton Point at 5:30 or 7:30 am and each day is a new and exciting experience.
Rowing is simply the most enjoyable sport I can think of in that it takes advantage of our beautiful waterways. The experience of being on the Tred Avon in the early morning when the water is calm and often misty, watching the waking waterfowl and the sun rise over the trees, in syncopation with fellow rowers, is an extraordinary experience. It can be both meditative during the long stretches of steady state as well as exhilarating when we build to race pace. And there are few people I am happier to call my friends. Rowers simply exude health and fitness, take pride in personal bests, and bi and large are committed, conscientious and community involved. They seem to live by an unwritten code of honor.
No wonder my classmates still enjoy rowing all these years later. No wonder I am still alive to enjoy another many years of camping in the snow, and rowing with my mates. I am grateful to ESCRowers for their commitment to building a healthier community, as I am a product of that mission and one, I hope, of many members to come.
Robert Greenlee has been an Easton-based real estate leader focused on sustainable investment, community development, and advancing practices in commercial real estate.