Rockin' the Boat

I went paddling for the first time in almost 4 years on Friday! The elation cannot be captured here but believe me, it exists very strongly. I was mentally dancing in joy. That morning Jane and I got boats from Diamond Brand and found what rivers were running. We went down to Saluda to run the lower Green, an easy class I-II 6-mile paddle. I was nervous being back in a boat—didn't know what I'd remember or what I'd lost completely. The first five minutes were definitely shaky; paddling is counter-intuitive most of the time. But shortly thereafter I was comfortable and excited to see what I could do in a boat slightly too big for me. Jane was working on fundamentals—eddying in and out, ferrying, etc—and it was a good refresher for me to be dusting off some rusty muscle memory. Nothing like teaching someone else to force oneself to relearn. Half way down I started to surf the little waves again and by the end I was actually side-surfing a bit. I didn't even try my roll; maybe that'll come next trip.

However...my back is really, really angry at me. About mile 4 I started to have spasms and I realized that's probably the limit I should be pushing; 6 is just a bit too far. I've taken to the philosophy that if I'm going to be in pain constantly I'd rather have it be from things that I love to do rather than just from the mundane life of bench warming. Paddling is something I've missed dearly and something I can't wait to do more often, regardless of the pills I'll have to take later.
And believe me, I'm FEELING that trip. Holy crap.

We did fit two boats on Jane's car too--roof racks be damned! That's awesome!