Plans can turn on a dime

Well, as if on cue, my plans for this summer have suddenly come into sharper focus.

Last fall I tried to enroll in a woodworking class scheduled for this July at the Maine Coast Craft School in Bristol, Maine, but was informed that the class was full.  They told me I was first on the waiting list, and it's been my experience that cancellations in these classes do in fact happen.  But I knew I shouldn't count on it, and I sort of put it out of my mind and started thinking about what else I might do this summer.  Those of you who have been reading the blog lately know that I was contemplating a trip up to the Great Lakes region.

But just several days ago I got an e-mail from a school official telling me that an enrollee had canceled and I had the opportunity to take his or her place.  I decided to claim the spot.  And so I'm going to Maine this summer!

And that opens up some new possibilities for canoe and kayak racing.  The class runs from the 22nd through the 29th of July; the Blackburn Challenge, one of the oldest and most venerated open-water races in this country, is scheduled for July 15 at Gloucester, Massachussetts.  Its distance (20 miles/32.2 kilometers) is at the outer limit of what I like to do, but the overall adventure aspect, as well as the hallowed history of the race, makes it something I feel like I ought to do.

Meanwhile, long-time readers of this blog, as well as viewers of my film "A Paddler's Journey," know that I want to paddle a boat in every state of the United States.  Maine is one of the states I haven't paddled in yet, as are Delaware and New Jersey.  So this trip offers me the opportunity to pick up three states and raise my total to 47.  Very exciting, indeed.

Suddenly I have renewed motivation to do some training.  Because Blackburn is a longer, more endurance-oriented event than what I've trained for in recent years, I'll be shifting the focus a bit.  In the coming weeks the emphasis will be on base, base, base.  Some more work on stroke power (i.e., distance per stroke) is in order as well.

Fortunately, it's not like I'm starting from zero here.  I've been doing plenty of base work since last November or December.  So I've got some time to get my mind fully into a new phase of training.  For the last week we've had a stretch of very cool weather--"Blackberry Winter" is what my mom tells me it's called--and it hasn't made me especially eager to be in the boat.  I also continue to have lots of work to do in the woodworking shop.  After taking yesterday off, I got myself out on the river today on a sunny but cool and breezy morning.  I paddled for 90 minutes, neither really hard nor really easy.  I felt sort of sluggish the whole time and it was one of those days when it was nice just to get something in the books.

For more information on what this blog is about, click here.