Relaxing and healing (I hope) at the beach

I got home last night after enjoying three full days at Dauphin Island.  Each morning I paddled some in Mississippi Sound, usually accompanied by a niece or nephew in the fat plastic boat I took down there.  Each of the kids went out with me at one time or another, but my 12-year-old niece Rachel was my most enthusiastic paddling partner:

The intensity was low; I think my longest session was an hour or so.  Basically, it was terrible training to be doing less than four weeks before the five-kilometer Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race.  But I was in rehab mode, trying to get healed enough to do a faster workout or two before race day.  My hip is still sore, but I would say, with caution, that it's been a little bit better each day.

Each afternoon I walked across the island to the beach and swam, giving myself over to the healing power of the Gulf of Mexico.