But this year I've been taking steps outside my comfort zone to find some activities I enjoy that don't involve running. For instance, in January I joined a boxing class. I boxed three times a week until the gym shut down in March for COVID. It was an attempt to get active and reduce stress, and I loved it. I loved the repetition and skill of the combos, and I loved hitting the heavy bag, and I loved feeling like I was an absolute beast at something I'd never tried before.
So last week when I was in West Virginia, our cabin sits just yards away from the Greenbrier River; I have never in my life had any interest in water sports, but I suddenly became obsessed with floating down that river.
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| Panoramic photo of the river from the bank of our cabin |
My husband is not at all fond of boats; my brother was interested, but had injured his back the day before our trip, so he was out; and my mom said no way. So my dad and I went down to the sporting outfitters in town and rented two kayaks for the day... even though neither of us had ever done so before.
We knew the river was pretty calm and shallow. There are places where it runs faster than it does by our cabin, but we didn't figure we'd hit any stunning rapids or anything. Still, I was kinda nervous, even though it was my bright idea to go. Mostly I was worried about not being able to control the boat, and of not being able to physically row for that long.
So I did what I always do when I'm uncomfortable, which is to research. I read all about kayaks and watched a few youtube videos. From those, I learned two things: 1)You need to row with your whole core, not just your arms and shoulders, and 2) to hold the paddle properly, you need to make sure that when you hold it upright, your elbows are at a 90 degree angle (literally, those were the two things that every kayaking how-to video said first).
So on Thursday morning, as soon as the morning mountain chill was gone, my husband and brother drove us to the let-in point and helped us get the kayaks in the water. We waded them out into foot-deep water while my husband functioned as documentarian, recording the launch on his iPhone for posterity.
My dad straddled his boat, sat down, and started pushing off from shore. Looked easy enough. I tried to follow the same technique. Decided my legs weren't long enough to comfortably do that, picked my right leg back up to try to step into the kayak instead, and immediately lost my balance, overturned my left ankle, and went *splash* down in a foot of water before even leaving shore. I spent a minute sitting in the water recovering, watching the minnows swim around me after I had abrubptly invaded their space. And oh, yes, this is all on video!! Lesson one of kayaking: getting in the boat, I need to go in butt first and then swing my legs into the boat!
After that, we waved to my brother and my husband, and set off. We figured it'd take about 20 minutes to get down to where the river passes the cabin, and they'd see us there. Well, lesson two of kayaking is rocks. Shallow water seems nice and safe, but it's not any fun when you get stuck on rocks every 6 feed and need to somehow wedge your way off of them. Also, if you hit those rocks head-on, they'll beach you, but if you hit them sideways they'll tip you! We learned how to be more efficient at it, but the whole first mile of the trip was super rocky and we ended up rounding the bend by our cabin a full hour later.
As we continued down the river from there, things got better. It was peaceful and quiet, and there were so many places we could just lazily float, listen to the birds, and see the dragonflies and fish. There was one or two places that I think may have even been considered mini-rapids!! (I have no idea what qualifies something as a rapid, but this brief stretch was fast and fun). As the afternoon wore on, we found that our trip took way longer than we'd expected, but we didn't mind. We loved it. Turns out all of my fears about it were unfounded. And it was a nice experience to just spend the day like that on the river with my dad; spending time just me and him isn't something that happens often these days.
Surprisingly, I didn't feel any ache in either my arms or my core the next day like I expected! I did, however, have a pretty nasty-colored sprained ankle and toe from my graceful entrance, and a wicked sunburn with some fabulous life-preserver-shaped tan lines.
All in all, I'm so glad we had this adventure. I'm glad I didn't let my fears stop me, and I'm glad I was able to persuade at least one person to try it with me since I don't think I would've had the guts to do it on my own. As I get older, I find it easier to try new things, and I almost never regret the experience.
In fact, as soon as we got back in my husband's truck, I told him, "I want a kayak for Christmas!" I can't wait until next year to try the Greenbrier again, but I'm also hoping to try some of the amazing lakes here in the Lehigh Valley I keep hearing about.
