Kayaking 101

The biggest lesson and metaphor for life that I learned way back in my river running days is that you just can not fight the river. The river is going to push you exactly where it is going and your only option is to work with it. In a kayak where you are physically "In" the water as opposed to being on a raft or "lunch tray" (1) as we used to call them, that principle is ever so much more important... Rafts roll over things, kayaks go in and through. In a kayak when the combat gets tense sometimes all you can do is note where the strongest river current is going, pick the best line possible, go for it, and eddy out on the other side.

Bottom line is that in order to succeed on the river one must really be able to relax and literally, "go with the flow."

Which brings me to this week. If this week were a river run, I'd call it a classic Class IV run without any huge drops but lots of obstacles, fast moving water, no breaks, and very unhappy circumstances if you end up capsized. Think of the Numbers and you have it. It's been a ball breaker starting with the first conference call Monday morning at 8:00 a.m.

This week was going to be my week to get fully back into the running program, increase my mileage and start building that strong base I will need this winter to prepare for the real training in three to four months. That was my plan.

All I can say is thank heavens Melissa is running now or otherwise I probably would have never laced up my shoes the past few days. I ended up getting in half of my usual mileage this week. 180 degrees completely out of phase with my original plan. Somehow I managed to sneak in a weight work out... only one when my target was five.

So... I gave myself a pass this week. I just decided that it wasn't worth the extra struggle or frustration. Overall this week, I just had to let go and work with the pushy water or current of life that I found myself in. After all, if I had a bad cold the end result would be the same... somewhat of a week off. Next week I'll be back on the program for sure. Today I wanted to run with the CRUD group but work had other ideas. Next weekend I plan on running with CRUD on Saturday and a run with the Incline Club on Sunday. Back in business.

Big week this past week too... Melissa is all but moved now. Lots of work around the house getting ready for the holiday season and my folks coming to visit next week. Running a Turkey Trot next Thursday with my parents, Melissa and Annie and I am definitely looking forward to that.

And hey, life isn't all bad. Between work calls, I did sneak in a walk with Roxy and had a Cobhiba tonight after having the worlds best chicken parm (thanks hon).

I just had to pick a line and go with it.

(1) We called rafts, especially commercial ones laden with tourists (tourist were also called carp) "Lunch Trays." We called them Lunch Trays because they would feed the river gods so we wouldn't have to!