Inside the Shell (and sometimes the fridge) with Katie Guest
April 7, 2012
Katie Guest comes from a family of world-class rowers. A native of Toronto, Ontario, she hopes to be a part of a University of Miami legacy that the world will never forget. Here is her story… My grandfather and great-grandfather were rowers. My great-grandfather was a world champion. He won the Diamond Sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta. He also won a silver medal at the Olympics. My grandfather was a great rower, as well, but didn’t go to the two Olympics he was invited to due to a back injury. He got a full scholarship to Penn. I always had a feeling I would row, and then after I finished swimming competitively for seven years I decided to try rowing. I picked it up so quickly that the coaches told me I had to stick with it. I fell in love with it. The University of Miami is a beautiful campus. It has one of the best Communications departments in the nation. To me, the U is exciting. It’s new. It’s unique. It’s all sorts of stuff I never thought it would be. Coach Carter was a big pull for me because he’s a Canadian Coach. I wanted the chance to be a part of a building team, rather than a team that’s already established. I wanted the chance to make my mark on the team in a unique way. After a stressful workout, I’ll go straight from the boat to the fridge. I’ll make a really, really big meal and take a really, really long time to eat it—like four hours. Then I’ll go to bed early. It’s great. The person I look up to the most at school is Brittany Viola for how determined she’s been. My rowing idol is Silken Laumann. She had a big injury right before the Olympics, and her determination and drive to get back to the sport inspires me. I’m going through something similar right now, and it helps to know that she did it. My guilty pleasure is chocolate. You eat some, you feel better and you’re ready to move on for the rest of the day. The superlative I would receive from my teammates is “most likely to get fired for laughing,” or “most likely to end up in a retirement home with Maggie Fragel.” Maggie [Fragel] and I can’t do workouts together because we can’t stop laughing. We won’t be doing anything, and then we’ll just look at each other and she’ll decide that she just HAS to tell a joke at that moment. If I could eat dinner with three people it would be Betty White, Michelle Obama and the Dali Lama. That would be awesome. They’re all really funny people. Betty White would be hilarious, the Dali Lama has the best laugh ever and Michelle Obama, she’s just jacked. I have a special place in my heart for dessert [and my boyfriend]. If I could have one super power I would want to move through time at my will. Actually, I would prefer to be born in 1960. I would rock the 60s. Then I could live through the 70s and the 80s. Those were the good years with the good music. Somebody asked me once: “If you didn’t row, what sport would you do?” I was like, horseback riding? Rowing IS the sport. It’s the best sport for people with no balance. In 10 years I see myself having won an Olympic medal in rowing. Then I’ll catch up on all the travelling and eating that I missed out on over the years with the money I win in the lottery. I don’t have any superstitions, but I always pretend that I do because everybody else does. Or I’ll pretend I’m superstitious just to see what I can get people to do before a race. Sometimes I’ll try to decide whether to size up the competition or not at the starting line. I want this year’s team to go faster than it ever has before and do better than it ever has before. I want to blow the records away, rebuild the reputation of the team and show the competition that we’re not something to mess with. I want to bump things up a notch.
