This week, row2k brings you a quick email interview with UK Blogger Anna Railton on her viral (and hilarious) blog post- Rowing: The Rules. (Ed. note: we typically have had a rule of having to pass on most rowing blogs, as we don't have the resources to keep up with tons of blogs of varying consistency, but this one made us laugh, and rules are made to be broken, so there you go.)

row2k - This particular entry in your blog was borderline epic; how did it come about (did it start small and grow, or did you just start and keep going, that kind of thing), and how has the reception been since you posted it?
Anna Railton - A lot of my blog posts end up unintentionally epic! Someone (Steve T) directed me towards the cycling rules and said "You should do a rowing version!" This sounded like a good idea, so I did! I didn't really intend to come up with over 50 of the bloody things, but they just kept coming! It took about 3 weeks to get all the rules together and draw all the pictures.

This post is the first one to go properly viral (on a small scale) which was awesome! It's up to about 10000 page views now for that post, which is crazy.

row2k - Did anyone complain?
Anna Railton - A few people don't agree with some of them (especially the pogies one - turns out a lot of people are pogies Nazis!) . I will probably always have the piss taken out of me for rolling up my onesie over splash jacket..

row2k - Which rule is your favorite?
Anna Railton - #5 (of course) and #9. Most dodgy drawing of a gorilla EVER. Not looking after boats (#16) pisses me off the most.

row2k - Which rule gets broken the most, in your experience?
Anna Railton - TOPLESS ROWING :-O

row2k - Have you given any thought to suitable punishments for rule infractions?
Anna Railton - Being thrown in the river/chained to an ergo on a really nice day?

row2k - What would rowing be like if everyone followed these rules?
Anna Railton - Not sure really. That said, a world where I wouldn't have to see lots of half naked pasty second boat rowers would be a better world.

row2k - Is the fascination with lycra tribal, or a fashion-fetish?
Anna Railton - I just love lycra. It is awesome. Some people have a weakness for chocolate/alcohol etc. Mine is for kit!

row2k - What inspired you to start your blog?
Anna Railton - It started off as a book review, of all things. I decided to review the "Yoga for Rowers" book over a few weeks to see if it made any difference (it did). I realised that I really enjoyed writing/ranting and the blog was born.

row2k - Tell us about the drawings; do you do them yourself? What comes first, the drawings or the blog entry?
Anna Railton - Yep, do all the drawings myself. I can now draw a respectable-looking ergo in 5s (a skill for the CV I think!). The drawings usually come first, then I take a picture of them all (seriously - I have not yet managed to get my scanner to work on Linux) and then write the post around them.

row2k - Anything else I missed or that you would like to add?
Anna Railton - Ummm. There is a Rowing: The Rules poster in the pipeline if I can find the time to get round to the tedious formatting faff. Next up will be something on WeHORR (likely synopsis: 20 mins of PAAAAAAIIIINNNNNNNN) and the Henley Boat Races...