Glum

Summer has begun, and I'm having a hard time not feeling completely bummed out.  All the things I look forward to in the summertime--my trip to the Pacific Northwest, travel to races in my region, baseball, concerts and social events--have vanished into the ether this year.

Make no mistake: I consider myself one of the more fortunate people here in Pandemic Times.  But the prospect of spending a sweltering Mid South summer stuck here at home with very little in the way of social and recreational options seems to sandbag my mood a bit more heavily each day.

I was feeling super-sluggish when I got up yesterday morning.  The act of going down to the river and getting my boat seemed like a bigger mountain than I could possibly climb.  But I went through the motions one task at a time: stretching, putting my gear in the car, driving downtown, getting my boat off the rack, getting in it and starting to paddle... and there I was.  Adam Davis met me down at the cobblestones, and we headed up the Mississippi, and soon I was feeling comfortable and fluid again.

We paddled maybe halfway up the Greenbelt Park.  A couple of barge rigs were coming downriver, the second of which was producing some good-looking waves, so we paddled out and followed it.  The waves were moving just a hair too fast: several times I rode the crest of a wave for a few seconds but was unable to get myself down into the trough.  After several minutes of throwing in short, hard sprints, I was gasping for breath, and I had no sweet rides to show for my trouble.  But hey... good practice, good training.  That stupid maxim we heard as kids is true: "It's better to try and fail than to fail to try."

The Fahrenheit temperature rose into the 90s yesterday, but it wasn't too unbearable.  The humidity was moderate and there was a light breeze blowing.  Late in the day some clouds moved in, and around two o'clock this morning I woke up and heard torrents of rain pouring down on my roof.

In the wake of that, today has been a pretty nice day: partly to mostly sunny, not too humid, and a few degrees cooler than yesterday with a pleasant breeze.

I felt somewhat lethargic again this morning, but not as bad as yesterday.  This time my enthusiasm was on the rise by the time I was headed out the door.  Down at the river I got in the boat and did 70 minutes of relaxed paddling.  I did several hard workouts in preparation for my "virtual" OICK race last weekend, but now, with no races on the horizon, I'm letting myself do whatever I feel like doing every time I paddle.  Until further notice, all workouts will be "play" workouts.


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