Trying to keep calm and carry on

I'd hoped that our beloved sport would remain above the fray in this time of distress.  But alas, that was wishful thinking.  I guess this has been the week that the situation "got real" as far as this blog is concerned.

At this moment the environment is such that it's all but impossible to have an event of any kind.  If the directors of the races in South Carolina and Ocean Springs had tried to go forward, they would have faced an onslaught of criticism of the "How can you be so irresponsible?" variety.  And maybe the critics would have been right, for all I know.

Right now I'm hoping the entire race season won't be wiped out, but that's certainly a possibility.  The Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race is near and dear to my heart, and for the moment it's still on for June 13; so is the Gorge Downwind Championships, a trip I really look forward to each July.  But unless things get turned around in the very near future, I'm afraid those events will join the growing list of casualties.

(UPDATE: I just found out this afternoon that next month's race on the Mississippi River at Vicksburg is off.)

My motivation took a hit when races started getting canceled this week.  I skipped my strength workout Tuesday morning, and the only reason I went through with paddling is that I'd already promised to meet Joe for that purpose.  Now I'm just looking to keep moving even though serious training might have to be on hold for a bit. I think some good "play" workouts are the best way to keep myself looking forward to being on the river.  Yesterday would have been a perfect example if I'd been better prepared: the wind was blowing from the south at least 20 miles per hour when I got to the dock yesterday morning, and when I paddled from the harbor out onto the river I found some sure-enough downwind conditions there.  They weren't big swells, but I had good rideable swells nevertheless.  Sadly, I wasn't dressed properly--I'd dressed for the 73-degree-Fahrenheit air temperature rather than the still-quite-cold water temperature--and I had to paddle timidly because of that.  There were also a lot of floating logs as a result of recent rains and a rising river level, and I didn't want to have my rudder whacked off.  Still, it was an encouraging reminder that we do occasionally get a taste of downwind here, and I'm going to start paying closer attention to the wind forecast and try to be ready for such opportunities from now on.

I managed to make a strength workout happen this morning.  It's going to be a chilly weekend with highs in the 50s, but I plan to be in my boat seeing what kind of fun I can find out on that big river.


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