What happened to skating?

I have another rowing update, but no skating.
Again, I have a good excuse.  I couldn't go to Wednesday freestyle because we had the inspection on the house we were buying.  It looks pretty good, just a few minor things to fix.  Which is as expected, because it is new construction.  Some weird things though- there are no fans on the fireplaces, so if we want to get any heat off them, we'd need to install that.  The downstairs one doesn't even have fake wood in it...it's just like a picture of a fire, but real fire. So odd.

I cannot wait to move, but the sad thing is, because we went a little higher than we meant to, we don't have money for furniture.  So it will be like another year before the house is put together to have people over...


So Thursday night I went rowing.  It was freaking 90 degrees! WTH Iowa?
I couldn't find my visor and when I went to Hobby Lobby to get one (it's where I got the first one, "ready to decorate" but I left it plain) they didn't have any.  So I had to wear one of Kevin's hats.  Except for the logo of a rival school from my own, it was perfect- fit great, kept the sweat out of my eyes, kept the glaring sun out of my eyes.  I have a new rowing hat!

So I rowed in the double scull again, this time with Ning.  She started off a little uncertain that I could actually row with her, and we did the one at a time thing, while she set the boat for me- to keep balance.  I told her R.C. had been having me row with the other person, so we switched to that.  Once Ning was convinced I could balance well, I think she upped the pace- because holy crap, that was some hard rowing.  We did take a few long breaks, and when we turned to head back upstream (? There isn't much current, so I'm not sure which is up and which is down) she started rowing oars off the water* and that slowed the stroke rate down a little bit.  But man was it a workout.  I'm not sore today, but I was worried about it.  In the boat, I could really feel my calves and hip flexors in pain.  I just have no flexibility in my legs.  What happened to me?

*When beginners scull, they slide their blades across the water and it makes the most awesome sound, however, it causes friction which slows the boat down. So a more advanced sculler feathers above the water.  The blades on the water balance the boat, so taking the blades off the water creates an element of instability if your oars are not exactly even in height.  Even having just one person row off the water created a few tippy moments, I imagine it is really hard to control when we both do it.  I am nowhere near ready to row oars off the water, even though I do seem to be sculling really well.

Another weird thing about rowing: I am covered in bruises.  I don't fall much in skating, so I have only had a few bruises from hard falls.  Rowing: I have a cut and a bruise on both calves from my slide bites,  I have two bruises on my left bicep and one on my right from who knows what.  I have a bruise on my left thigh, I think from trying to massage my hip flexor- so I did that to myself.  And I have major sore spots, but only minor bruises on both shoulders from carrying boats.  The one thing I don't really have: blisters.  I only get those from sweep rowing, not sculling.