Let the Kayaking Begin!

Last night was our first night of kayaking practice. There was actually a practice on Saturday, but I couldn't make it because I was running 10 miles! So, last night was my first night. I drove over to Eleanor Tinsley Park (which I wasn't totally sure where it was, but I stumbled upon it when I saw other people with inflatable kayaks) and got there on time (always a challenge when you're driving in Houston at rush hour). I hauled out my equipment: an inflatable Sevylor (aka a Sevy) kayak, 2 inflatable seats, a paddle, a life jacket, and a head lamp. Fortunately, the coaches provided us with air pumps to inflate everything.

I got paired up with another novice, who had been at practice last Saturday, so he knew a little bit about what was going on. I got all of my stuff inflated and realized that one of the compartments on my kayak wasn't tight. So I inflated it again...same result. So, the kayak I just purchased has a hole in it...great! Turns out they're easy and cheap to patch, but I had to deflate that kayak and then inflate another kayak which the coaches had with them (they really are good coaches!). So, of course, I feel behind and like I don't know what's going on. By this time, it was dark (did I mention that all of these practices are in the dark?) and getting a little colder, although not as bad as last week.

We carried our Sevy's down a hill, then got ready to do our warm-up. This is our warm-up: run up a steep hill about 300 feet, run back down, pick up the Sevy with all the gear, run up the same hill and back down, then repeat the whole thing. I was good until I had to carry the Sevy. Fortunately I had a great partner who was patient (I was running sooo slow!) and probably was carrying all the weight - I couldn't tell, I was just trying not to fall down. So, we finish that, then do some practice strokes with our paddles in the air. Then we head down to the water.

Did I mention it was dark? My head lamp is semi-helpful, but it's very disorienting to be carrying a boat and trying not to hit anyone with a paddle when all you can see is a direct beam of light that goes out about 10 feet out in front of you. So, we get in the kayak. Because of where we got in, we kind of had to fall into the boat. That was quite interesting! I am such a klutz and really was scared I was going to fall into the water. Then, we got going.

Immediately, I realize that it's impossible to overturn these Sevy's unless you're really trying, which makes me feel better. For the first 20 minutes, I was in the front of the kayak. The person in front is in charge of speed. The person in the back is in charge of steering. We did really good when I was in front, although it was tiring. We basically paddled back and forth about a quarter mile away from the place where we got in the water (isn't there a term for that? I forget) and never got out of our coach's sight. Then, we traded places. Now, to trade places, you have to paddle over to the shore and get out of the boat. My partner got out first, then pulled me out. He had to like grab mud to pull us to the shore because there wasn't anything to hold onto. Fortunately, he was successful and got out, then I got out and my foot sank into the mud. I was wearing some old shoes. If it had been any of my good running shoes, I would have been ticked off because my foot sank down to my ankle into the mud. I am totally not exaggerating! My foot was completely submersed in this mud.

So, we get back in the boat and now I'm in the back, which means I'm supposed to steer. I do not know what my problem is, but I CAN NOT steer this stupid boat. It didn't matter what I did, I could not control the direction of the kayak. We were just heading off wherever and I couldn't get it to turn back the way I thought it should. I was very frutstrated by the whole thing. The guy in my boat was very nice and encouraging, but I just couldn't do it. I was doing exactly what they were telling me to do, but it made no difference whatsoever in the direction of the boat. It didn't help that there were like 8 other kayaks of new people in the same area. It did kind of seem like we'd get going and someone would ram into us (it was like bumper boats at Celebration Station).

Finally, we were done and got to get out of the boat. I was so relieved to be done with trying to steer. Getting out was equally eventful to the trading places adventure. We hauled the boats back up to the top of the hill where we had started. Then the cold set in. See, when you're paddling, you're splashing water everywhere. Not big splashes, but the water drips all over you. And I was getting my hands into the water trying to steer the boat (unsuccessfully everytime...I should have saved my hands the trouble). I don't know why this was a surprise to me, but it was. I was soaked to the bone everywhere but my head...don't know how it escaped the water, but it did. And the temperature had dropped, as it tends to do when the sun goes down. So, I was freezing. Really, really freezing. I could barely move once we got the kayak deflated and I got all the stuff back in my car.

Our coach started us on some other workout that included running up and down a hill again. Since my shoes were soaked all the way through, I decided to bail on running. I got in my car and headed home...my teeth were chattering because I was so cold! Once I got home and out of my car, I took off my shoes and socks and left them in the garage. I forgot about them until this morning. I went to check on them and they are still soaking wet!

All in all, kayaking is my least favorite thing so far. Probably because I'm not good at it, but I think also because of how wet and cold you get. I am really a girly-girl. I do not like mud. But, it seems that I better get to liking it because I'm going to get to experience a lot more of it over the next 10 weeks!