Voyage of the Damned

Yesterday was the dojo canoe trip.  We do this trip annually (and in some years, a few of us have gone multiple times), and pretty much always have an awesome time, although the character of each trip seems to vary.  Usually I kayak the thing, solo, but this year one of the gals wanted a shipmate, as her husband is abroad for work and she didn't want to go alone with her two girls (ages 10 and 12, or around that), so I teamed up with them.  My goal for the day was to do as little work as possible, since I had to do a 9 mile long run prior to the event.

I didn't actually think that would be an issue.  When my sister and I were young, we often spent the summer at my grandmother's house at the shore.  There was a lake on the property, and she had a boat, and we were out on the water all. the. time., usually capsizing the boat, trying to sink it, towing it around, and sometimes actually sitting in it, fishing.  Also, whenever we went canoeing as a family, sis and I ALWAYS paddled.  Whether we were more a help than a hindrance, only my parents know for sure, but paddle, we did.  So I figured I'd help with the steering but basically sit back and watch the trees go by.

Not.

Not only did I paddle, I had the back end of the canoe.  The first half of the trip wasn't bad at all.  We were on a windy little river; the water was low due to the relatively low rainfall we've had this year, and the hardest part was steering around trees that had fallen into the river over the winter.  Then - heh - we merged with another, bigger river, the channel broadened considerably, and the work began.  We were going against the tide, as it happened, and into the wind, not the best combination.  A couple of times when I had to steer hard, the wind would catch us broadside and we'd actually go sideways.  Actually it was pretty funny, but I think I was the only one who found it amusing.  At one point I wanted to stop paddling for a moment to grab a drink, and as soon as I did, we started going backwards.  I thought that was funny, too, but no one else did.  So, long story short, the girls sang and had water gun fights with everyone who came near us, and the mom and I worked our asses off for a couple of hours.  Afterwards a few of us expressed our appreciation for the wonderful shoulder and lat workout (ha!) and discussed perhaps tubing next year in lieu of canoeing.

Did my weight workout this morning, sans my glute add-ons (my nod to carry-over fatigue), and it went better than I expected, all things considered.  I'm a little under five weeks from the half, and the schedule is roughly three hard weeks, one relatively easier week, and a taper week.  Wow.  That seems like practically no time at all!