Toltecs

You know who the Toltecs were? They ruled in ancient Mexico. They were legendary builders, metalworkers and artists. The Toltecs intimately understood the movements of the planets and incorporated solar elements into their architecture. They had rulers with names like Cloud Serpent and warrior clans with names like Jaguar and Eagle. You can still go down there and see what we figure are their temples, kind of like someone in a thousand years going to see Hoover Dam and saying "Now what the hell?!" Even what was left behind after the fall of their civilization is so impressive that the saying "work like a Toltec" has survived to this day.

At 5:42 a.m., while I am pulling through the last gut-heaving minutes of a head-racing piece in a bow-coxed four down on the not-so-sanitary Sanitary and Ship Canal on the Chicago River, I gain that last ounce of strength by imagining that I am a Toltec.

We've been winning gold medals at every regatta this fall.