The Voyage: Roz Savage
Marathon Update
31 Aug 2006, San Francisco, California

Getting fit after a long rest is tough - two weeks of BootCamp, plus a couple of runs with the Palo Alto Run Club have proved to be a strain on the old bones. I'm getting a bit fitter, any maybe even shedding a pound or two, but it's still hard work.

Rachel - when I was on the Atlantic, you texted me to say 'After this nothing will ever seem hard again'. You were wrong!

But with every day that passes I seem to be more irrevocably committed to running in New Jersey with Dean Karnazes on 4th November. This morning: an email from The North Face's publicity agent:

'I have seen your web site and story and it's amazing, it will be great to have you in New Jersey and I look forward to meeting you!!!!

No worries on being 'judged' by your run in New Jersey, most media are just interested in how people inspire and excite one another....and what people's stories are. ;0) It looks like CNN and CNN.com will be interviewing Dean during the NJ run and I've let them know you will be there.'

Oh marvellous, now I get to humiliate myself on TV. I've already warned them I'll be the beetroot-faced one puffing along in the background.

| | More
Pear-Shaped
31 Aug 2006, San Francisco, California

It all seemed to be going so well. After yesterday's last-minute decision to go to the Maui Writers' Conference in Hawaii, Team Roz really pulled out all the stops to help me get there fully prepared.

I didn't want to turn up empty-handed. The objective of the exercise is to schmooze the attendant literary agents and/or publishers. I needed a seriously impressive book proposal to hand out.

But my book proposal was still far from ready. Ellen Hawkes, my advisor in all matters literary, had made a lot of suggestions for improvement that needed to be implemented.

Impossible deadlines have a marvellous ability to focus the mind, and in 3 hours of intense mental activity and much typing, I had a proposal that met with Ellen's approval.

I also decided I wanted 10 copies of my Atlantic rowing videos on DVD to include in the package, as the videos seem to provoke a definite reaction in all who see them (varying from 'you must be mad' to 'wow').

Luckily Lex at Riekes Center for Human Enhancement was able to help out.

Then there were labels to print out - for the folder and for the DVD's, so it was off to the Palo Alto Apple Store to buy Disc Cover, and to Staples to buy labels, folders and printer paper.

With a lot of expenditure and a bit of difficulty (WHY won't Hawaiian Airlines accept British credit cards?) I managed to sort the logistics - flights, hotel, and conference badge.

So I was looking all shipshape and ready to go. Then I found that there was a problem with the sound on the DVD's, my laptop (with all my logistical info) wouldn't sync to my palmtop... and then to top it all I pulled a muscle in my lower back.

A case of more haste, less speed, maybe.

| | More
Calendar Now Online
30 Aug 2006, San Francisco, CA

My calendar is now available online, so everybody (including me) can keep up with where I am. To view it, go to the option on the menu bar called 'Roz:Live', and select 'Calendar'. Et voila!

Thanks to my webmaster, Tim of WebExpeditions for setting this up, and for dealing with the mountain of spam that hit my email account yesterday, temporarily rendering it unusable. Normal service has now been resumed.

| | More
A Word from Rita Savage
28 Aug 2006

When Roz was rowing across the Atlantic, she occasionally allowed Monty the teddy bear to write a dispatch. It seems that I am being granted the same privilege. The picture shows Roz on an early expedition of exploration, with her first set of wheels Attempting to sample a dahlia bud she managed to tip the thing over into the flower border. Fortunately she survived, or she would not have been rowing the Atlantic earlier this year.
She still keeps me busy collecting press cuttings, helping to get her boat shipped to the USA, dealing with mail and loads of other things. The latest media coverage was in the Daily Telegraph this week, in the Sports section. You can see a copy of it in her Gallery available by clicking on Gallery (naturally) on her home page. Then look for UK articles.
I will in due course be adding more pictures to her gallery, once we have sorted out a couple of teething problems with the technology. It makes me feel a bit of a dummy. Sorry for the puns, I must have babies on my mind! Only in pictures, of course.
Many people ask me, or tell me, about being very proud of what Roz has achieved. Yes, indeed I do, but in many ways we were so closely involved in the whole project that I feel a bit guilty about admitting to pride. Many a time, though, when she was struggling with her epic row across the ocean, I could not help but think: "Whatever gave you the idea that you could do this?" A lot of other people had the same thoughts and are still amazed that she did it. It remains a remarkable feat. I enjoy talking to people about the row, and showing the DVD that she made for me of her talk here in Leeds last June. It is fascinating to see their reaction when they see the video clip of her crawling over the fore-cabin to cut the line to the sea anchor. They almost climb out of their seats to want to help her! Do look at the video clips also available on her website Gallery.

| | More

 

 
 
 
 
 

 
Powered by XJournal