win an outrigger canoe race

...to get back out on the water. Alas, i live in the mountains and it is still too cold (for most sane people) to go paddling right now. My sister, on the other hand, lives in the SF Bay Area and just went out this past weekend for the first time in a long while. She’s just getting back into it. I sometimes forget that it really is Spring in a lot of other places…cherry blossoms…bulbs… WARMth…

Anyway, I digress… I just popped into email to answer a friend – we are going to have a coffee date tomorrow to catch up and chitchat and all that goodness. We were originally co-workers in corporate hell together (thankfully not for too long), and became paddling buddies a while later after we both left “that place” and ran into one another randomly…anyway…

Just her name makes me think of paddling…so here I am dreaming about it…

Right here at Lake Tahoe – so close I can ride my bike there! at 6200+ elevation, I hope we have some sort of home-course advantage…Practices have been great and I feel ready – if we don’t win – hey, there’s always next summer….

a huli drill consists of flipping the canoe over, which dumps everyone out, then as quickly and efficiently as possible, flipping it back over, getting all the water out, and continuing on our way…donner lake is an alpine lake however, it is relatively small so it was not SO cold…and we did great, we got the boat back over and running in no time – I didn’t know I could tread water and swim so well with so much adrenaline flowing through my body -

...maybe this summer, maybe not…I am stoked that we finally seem to have a dedicated novice crew willing to practice twice a week (or more!)...AND I am starting to feel my body take over more often, rather than my mind being so involved in telling my body what it ought to be doing…muscle memories and whatnot…AND the paddle I ordered should be here within the next 2 weeks or so :-D Yay! Progress!!

So, we didn’t win on Saturday, (nor did we come in last place…) and my team needs some work…in time…in time…I just need to remember that every moment on the water counts…(and maybe I can race open rather than novice if I can rate…) practice practice practice

Well, first race this Saturday = first chance to win one…I have no idea how my team compares, as I have never seen any others….we will see what happens on Saturday!!!!!