Some post-race notes

I left Pascagoula around 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon and drove my sore, achy body all the way back to Memphis, arriving home at about 9:30.  After sleeping the sleep of the dead overnight, I got up this morning and set about the business of cleaning out the car and putting things away.  I usually like to do a recovery paddle the day after a race, but my fatigue, the chilly overcast weather outside, and an early-afternoon social commitment all kept that from happening.  Instead I did some full-body stretching and soaked in the tub for a while, and I'll try to get down to the river in the morning.

During the race yesterday I had my G.P.S. device on board, and though I'd turned off the speed feature--that piece of data is one distraction I prefer to do without during a race--it was still giving me my mile splits.  I noticed that as Jeb Berry and I navigated the first third or so of the race our splits were in the 8:30-8:40 range, but in the later stages the pace slowed to around 9:10 or 9:15.  I was a bit surprised at how fast our early miles were--not much slower than the mile pieces I'd done in a workout two weeks earlier.  The Gulf Coast region hadn't had much rain lately and I wasn't counting on much help from the current.  As for the slower pace later on, I guess the tide might have been a factor: I checked the tidal chart online this morning and it showed that the tide was on a gradual rise (and therefore flowing up into the rivers and creeks) while the race was going on.  Also, once we were out of the forested section of the Pascagoula we were more exposed to the wind.  I never thought the headwind was particularly bad during the race, but it was definitely there.  It picked up quite a bit more after Jeb and I had finished and I didn't envy the people still out on the course, particularly the stand-up paddleboarders and the paddlers in open canoes.

What's next for me?  Well, there's a race on the Kentucky River south of Lexington next Saturday that I'd love to attend, but I'm still slammed with work here at home and I'm not sure if I can swing it.  If I don't make it up there, then maybe a race on the Osage River up in Missouri will be next: it's the weekend of May 13.  I've wanted to go to it each of the last two years, only to have injuries crop up that forced me to cancel at the last minute.  Maybe the third time will be the charm.