Race tomorrow

I did a 40-minute paddle in Mississippi Sound this morning, during which I did six 12-stroke sprints.  Then I got in the car and made the long drive to Little Rock, the host city for tomorrow's Arkansas River Canoe and Kayak Race.

Because of abnormally high river levels, the race tomorrow will actually take place on the Little Maumelle River, upstream of the usual race course.  Race director Phil Capel says it will be a 5-mile out-and-back course.

In recent years Olympic hopefuls based at the Chesapeake Boathouse training center in Oklahoma City have been coming to this race.  Among them has been Kaitlyn McElroy, one of the best female paddlers in the U.S. (she has spanked me each of the last three years).  McElroy won all three of her events at the U.S. Team Trials about a month ago, making her the woman to watch in this early stage of the new Olympic quadrennium.  Other registrants whose names I recognize are Austin Schwinn and Maggie Hogan, whom there's a fair chance we'll see on our tee vees in 2016.

I'm just sitting here in my motel room hoping I can get a good night's rest and be ready to go in the morning.  I'm feeling a bit tired and sore even though I don't think I overdid it during my vacation trip.  That tandem boat is big and heavy, and I guess muscling it around in that wind was enough to leave me feeling a bit achy.  Whatever the case, I'll just get out there tomorrow and try to paddle as hard as I can.