When I started rowing I had a shoulder problem that doctors had worked on for some time and in spite of x-rays, injections with cortisone and exercises it did not get better, the pain was waking me up at night; this was a real problem, however as soon as I started rowing, instead of aggravating it, the problem disappeared. That was the first step in my recovery. I decided rowing was going to replace my running, swimming and other activities, and I became addicted to this form of exercise. In due course I regularly rowed 10 kilometers daily and noted I could row at the same pace I could run. I worked my way to a half marathon, marathon, Ultra marathons and then decided since I had run around the world by keeping a log I would do the same on the rower.