The week's roundup

This has been as rainy a month of June as I can remember, and it's really cutting loose here on the next-to-last day.  It rained with almost no letup for four to five hours this morning, some of that rain being quite heavy.  It was slacking up some by the time I got downtown to paddle, but it continued to drizzle for the entire 60 minutes.  I can't wait to see in tomorrow's newspaper how many inches have fallen.

The heavy rain started last night, forcing the cancellation of some outdoor events in my part of town.  There had been some rain during the day yesterday, too, but it wasn't too disruptive during my "Intro to Kayaking" class out at Shelby Farms.  I had just one student--two had registered, but one withdrew the night before--so she got to dictate the agenda, and she had no problem getting wet.  She was determined to get over her fear of doing a wet exit, and I think we made some progress in that area.  This class I've been teaching is very basic--I describe it to people as a "primer" for people trying out the sport for the first time--and I try hard to put myself in the students' shoes as they strive to master things that have been automatic for me for decades.  As my student yesterday psyched herself up to flip her boat and swim out of it, I imagined myself taking a class in something new to me, concentrating hard on some skill the instructor could do in his sleep, and figured that's how my student felt.  In the last ten years I've tried contra dancing and basic massage, as well as a number of new woodworking skills, and I should probably extend myself beyond my comfort zone a little more often.

This morning was the first time I'd paddled since Tuesday, when Joe and I did an easy loop of the harbor.  I've been hoping my back might have a chance to heal up with the reduced paddling load of the last couple of weeks, but it's been following the same pattern of flaring up every few days as if there's been no change in training volume.  Frankly, I'm getting a bit discouraged.  For a while I was doing all the things one should do to address an injury--getting massages, soaking in the tub and stretching, that sort of thing--and have seen no real improvement, and lately I've just been slacking off on all that.