(no subject)
I have a new sport!!
I emailed with just an inquiry about the sport and the team on Friday afternoon and got a response a few hours later asking me to show up Saturday morning at 6:45 at their seaside launching point in Salem (about a half hour drive). After some serious encouragement from my dear motospeedfreek, and after pulling on my crew garb just as a reminder of how much I like team water sports, I decided to wake up early the next morning and just... do it.
It was amazingly fun, surprisingly difficult, and I am hooked. It definitely wasn't as demanding as crew, and my poor knee was VERY happy to see that!! But it was damn close, and I could feel all of the muscles in my body working (it's misleading... the idea that you don't use your legs just because you're canoeing). We paddled 18 miles (3.5 hours) WITHOUT STOPPING, NOT EVEN FOR TWO SECONDS, that morning. I felt GREAT (albeit a little cold and salt-water-soggy) when it was done. The coach of the team, Joe, sat behind me and told me to watch everyone else to figure out how to paddle (since I'd never done it before). Then he would shout out things to me that I needed to change.... when we were done, he said that no one had ever paddled as far as I did on their first day. Heh. I told him he had no idea what a beast I was, and he laughed, but somewhat knowingly... ;oP He's emailed me twice since then to tell me how impressed he is with my spirit, energy, and talent for the sport. Rrrrawr.
Everyone on the team is jacked, guys and girls (all of the women except one used to be rowers... like crazy Olympic rowers), and I'm the shrimpiest by far, but it's frickin' great, and I'm up to the challenge. Outboard canoeing means there's this arm on the canoe called an "ama" (everything has a Hawai'ian name in this sport) that, incidentallly, the person in my seat, 5 seat, is responsible for keeping "safe" during a race. It's what keeps the boat from capsizing, and during one of the crazy 3-hour races, other boats come in and shove their "ama" at your boat so everyone has to switch their paddling to the other side (at the shouting behest of the 5-seat) and so it's strategic and requires a lot of brain AND body power, and it's just CRAZY fun. Think speedy car races from the movie *Grease*, except in a boat.
AND BEST OF ALL, NOW I HAVE TONS OF KICK-ASS BRUISES *AND* I GET LOTS OF BACKRUBS FROM MY HONEY!!! YAH YAH YAH!!
Also, whale watching was good on Sunday. :)
Also, my honey is now the proud owner of a KICK-ASS pottery wheel. It's in our house. I don't have to be a pottery widow anymore! WHEEE! I can't wait to see all the stuff that she makes!
I emailed with just an inquiry about the sport and the team on Friday afternoon and got a response a few hours later asking me to show up Saturday morning at 6:45 at their seaside launching point in Salem (about a half hour drive). After some serious encouragement from my dear motospeedfreek, and after pulling on my crew garb just as a reminder of how much I like team water sports, I decided to wake up early the next morning and just... do it.
It was amazingly fun, surprisingly difficult, and I am hooked. It definitely wasn't as demanding as crew, and my poor knee was VERY happy to see that!! But it was damn close, and I could feel all of the muscles in my body working (it's misleading... the idea that you don't use your legs just because you're canoeing). We paddled 18 miles (3.5 hours) WITHOUT STOPPING, NOT EVEN FOR TWO SECONDS, that morning. I felt GREAT (albeit a little cold and salt-water-soggy) when it was done. The coach of the team, Joe, sat behind me and told me to watch everyone else to figure out how to paddle (since I'd never done it before). Then he would shout out things to me that I needed to change.... when we were done, he said that no one had ever paddled as far as I did on their first day. Heh. I told him he had no idea what a beast I was, and he laughed, but somewhat knowingly... ;oP He's emailed me twice since then to tell me how impressed he is with my spirit, energy, and talent for the sport. Rrrrawr.
Everyone on the team is jacked, guys and girls (all of the women except one used to be rowers... like crazy Olympic rowers), and I'm the shrimpiest by far, but it's frickin' great, and I'm up to the challenge. Outboard canoeing means there's this arm on the canoe called an "ama" (everything has a Hawai'ian name in this sport) that, incidentallly, the person in my seat, 5 seat, is responsible for keeping "safe" during a race. It's what keeps the boat from capsizing, and during one of the crazy 3-hour races, other boats come in and shove their "ama" at your boat so everyone has to switch their paddling to the other side (at the shouting behest of the 5-seat) and so it's strategic and requires a lot of brain AND body power, and it's just CRAZY fun. Think speedy car races from the movie *Grease*, except in a boat.
AND BEST OF ALL, NOW I HAVE TONS OF KICK-ASS BRUISES *AND* I GET LOTS OF BACKRUBS FROM MY HONEY!!! YAH YAH YAH!!
Also, whale watching was good on Sunday. :)
Also, my honey is now the proud owner of a KICK-ASS pottery wheel. It's in our house. I don't have to be a pottery widow anymore! WHEEE! I can't wait to see all the stuff that she makes!