Dragon Boating Causes Breast Cancer!

To take the place of my volleyball, both on my local open women's team and on the Legacy teams I organize for international tournaments; to keep me fit and healthy; and to also fulfill one of my bucket list goals; I joined a Dragon Boat team whose coach was my water aerobics teacher at the Fairwinds Center, our local fitness club. Now that sport is Hell! Most of the ladies developed a strong passion for it. And sure it was beautiful paddling out in the Nanaimo Harbour on still late afternoons. But the regattas were, in my humble opinion, torture. We would wait patiently in a crowded area on our folding lawn chairs, march obediently to the dock, cram ourselves into little hard seats with our legs partially extended uncomfortably while we, in unison, not daring to glance to the side, paddled out to the starting line. Heads down, paddles all at the ready, remembering to breath, we waited for the gun. Bang! Three minutes of intense pain.
You know, I thought I liked competing; but my love of winning forced everything to come out in the first ten strokes. After that there was pain for two minutes and fifty seconds. Not a good sport choice  for me, but I finished the season. I was definitely more fit, not just because of the strenuous workouts. Practice times replaced three meals a week.
Funny that this sport evolved popularity from a desire to provide women surviving breast cancer good upper body exercise. Now my left breast is bothering me. Probably from the PDF (paddler-speak for life jacket).