Just Paddle

 Step off.  Free fall.  Know the bottom is rushing toward you and you it.  Do Something.   Mark Twight.

 

Very often I don’t feel immediately like doing whatever I’ve put on the training plan for the day. But that really doesn’t matter. You do the thing you decided to do because you decided to do it.

So, I didn’t immediately feel like paddling today, but it’s my day of the week for logging my usual 20 kilometres (the winter standard when I’m not training for a big trip and just trying to maintain a minimum level of paddle fitness). It was, however, sunny on the beach, and warm enough before I even started to strip off a few winter layers. A dolphin pod was circling around the initial reefs inside my local bay, and they were very close to me – a good omen I thought.

A little chop on the water that ebbed to glassy conditions as my three hour paddle progressed. It’s true, I do only 20 kilometres and I watch the clock a bit, but, I did the thing I planned to do. How strong are young climbers these days? This strong.