A kayaking experience

We ran a run called Deckers today. It is not much more than a meandering trout stream with a few fun little features that make it worth it to boat. As a kayker that has some experience and is confident in class III-IV stuff it's pretty boring (it's a class II with one class III rapid), but it's close to town, has enough water in it even after the other rivers have gotten so low they are unrunnable at this time in the season, and it's an excellent place for beginners to learn. It's also beautiful...it's nestled in a little canyon and has several other options for harder runs providing roberts tunnel is releasing water and they have enough in them to boat. So, this was the first time I've gone down this season without having the newbies (new kayakers who are still really green and can't do much over a class II float) out number the experienced one's. We did have one newbie and 6 others including myself. It's fairly low and running around 400 CFS (think 400 basketballs flowing down the river at once), I took beginners down this at about 600 CFS and there was lots o carnage (swimmers). So here are a few pics of the day. Keep in mind that I was using Kerry's camera which is a super awesome olympus that can be submerged up to 10 feet (maybe more I don't know), and can take just about anything....like smacking on a rock and it still works. But I used it as a point and shoot so some pictures aren't really up to standard, but what the hell, you'll see what you need to:) It was an awesome day!

Step 1: Shuttle and road side scout

We scout so we can read the lines (best route to take) of a particular rapid. This run has two, which the first of which we are scouting here and it's named 'Chutes'. The second one is easy and you can read and run. I hate scouting...you stare at a rapid, and some are rather intimidating, for too long and you psych yourself out. GO BIG is my motto, just try to stay upright!

Ok the next pic is of the Chutes, you can't really appreciate it until you see it in person but this is all I got for ya :) it's pretty easy but intimidating to the newer paddler because of it's rock walls on each side which make it very narrow and forceful. There's a big hole (holes can either be your friend your make you eat shit! Some are sticky, some will recycle you and not let go until they've had their fun, this one is nice and you can punch right through it) in the middle that you simply can't avoid but some hard paddle strokes will get you through it. I always tell people to point your boat just slightly left and the natural flow will flush you out.
It's very short and at the end of it there's a huge pool with two big eddies, great for catching gear or swimmers :) We had two swimmers today on this part of the run, which they were both fairly new and the swirly water at the bottom gets people every time!

Step 2: Put in

This is the beginning of the run if you didn't under stand the lingo...tee hee hee.

Step 3: Having a good time!

*Patty being goofy!* Kerry trying his stern squirt* sitting in an eddy* me and Kerry floating

Step 4: Take Out

Whadda dork!! *I thought he was kissing me on the cheek, turns out the little

pervert wasn't!!! So much for a cute little picture. Like the hair?
It's impossible to look like anything other than a drowned rat at
the end of a run!!!

So that's a day of kayaking...I love it! If I could only find a way to make money at it I'd do it everyday...all day :) Until winter comes then snowboarding season starts!

Olive seems to be fine too, she's been more hyper lately (haven't exercised her much since the 'incident'). Still keeping an eye on her but she seems to be fine! Thank God!! I'm positive that I will have a major breakdown if anything happened to her....she was just a little peanut when I brought her home and she's been the only constant thing throughout all the moving, and relationships and life (other than my awesome family)...she's my little buddy !!!

From Hell to heaven all while working from home.

Friday was a traumatic day. My dog Olive who is 10 years old had a seizure in the kitchen. The day started as normal with the addition of Baxter the elderly Beagle I'm dog sitting . We got up, went outside, ate breakfast and then Olive walked by me and just kind of tipped over, legs stiff, muscles tensed and her eyes rolled into her head. She just wobbled a little on the floor then her head whipped back for a second or two. I tried to calm her down, petting her, talking to her, and after a minute or two she was looking at me again. She hung out for a little bit then got up and walked around...napped pretty much the rest of the morning. I took her to the vet in the afternoon and she was happy and hyper like normal. They said her blood work came back looking excellent and they have no idea what caused it. It could be environmental, stress, a brain tumor, or a one time occurence that may be related to her age.

I heard this morning about food triggers, mainly purina brand dog food, which triggered seizures in other dogs. This is not completely out of the question as the cause since she ate a handful of Baxter's food about 20 mins before it happened. I think it actually took me longer to recover from her little episode then it took her, but I'm having someone watch her while I'm at work for a while just to make sure. Scary and so sad...there's nothing you can do to help really outside of holding them and waiting it out. While it was happening when her eyes were not rolling back she just looked scared and had no idea why she didn't have any control over herself. Poor thing....

Luckily the day was rainy and almost cold, it was a fantastic break from the high 90's and I know all the dogs enjoyed it as well. We took a slow walk around the park before bed.

So this morning at 4AM (it should be illegal to get up that early) I packed up all the dogs, my boat and gear, plus laptop for work and headed out. I dropped Baxter off at his house as his Mommy is coming home this afternoon, in Boulder, drove all the way to Littleton to drop my dogs off at Kerry's house and then went to work. We're going boating tomorrow....in Deckers which is a beautiful canyon up around Conifer. It's close to town and still has water in it, snow definitley melts too fast here!!

I have been eating good the last few weeks, but haven't gotten a whole lot of strenuous workouts in. Deckers will help with that, it's an easy run but when we're done a few of us are doing Foxton which is a little more difficult and will keep me on my toes!

I'm FINALLY getting a/c

It's a miracle!! I just got an estimate that I can afford so on Monday I'll have a/c! WOOHOO!

It's been REALLY hot lately and never seemed to let up. I'm really excited that I won't have to sit and puddle when I'm home anymore!

I went to Boulder the other night to hit a few local paddle shops. In my defense I did check the consignment store first....I bought the paddle I've been wanting. It was maybe a tad expensive but it'll be a good investment. I love this paddle!

Boulder is like visiting a different state, it's in a world of it's own and is always a unique experience. It's filled with Birkenstocks, peddle bikes and I Tele-Loveland (local ski area) stickers. You can't walk down the block without seeing dreadlocks. It has an abundance of hippies and granolas. I love it..not to live there but it's a fun little town! After spending a ridiculous amount of money on my paddle Patty, Alex and I went for dinner.

When I got home it was pretty late but nice and cool, so i took the dogs for a walk, about 3 miles. It's been so hot that I haven't done much of anything outside of walking the dogs but today and the rest of the weekend are suppose to be a lot cooler. I think i will take Baxter (I'm dog sitting) and Olive, who are my geriatric team out for a slow walk, then come back and take Desil for a run. I'm confident that if I have a heart attack from attempting to run and passout, Desil who is a solid 90 lbs of SPAZ will have no problems dragging (literally) me home!

I've been researching all the different gear and training trips for triathalons. It never fails to amaze me how many gadgets are out there for different sports. I'm not sure I can get into the world of Garmin gadgets and stats but you never know! For now I'll stick with the basics

Keeping up with the W's!

So here goes it...the first blog! My sister Jenny and her husband have inspired me to be a healthier person. My other sister Michele has just started to blog and train as well which has made me want to get going myself in that same direction.


My goal in general is to be healthier and get back into my athletic abilities. I used to play all kinds of sports, swimming being the main one but remember my childhood filled with sports of all kinds. My 20's were filled with things I'm not proud of and most of which is my health. My first personal goal is to get back into a routine of exercising regular. Once I get that under control I am going to try running....which I've always thought there's too much jiggle for me to be a descent runner. Time to change how I look at it and just get it done... I really want to participate with my sisters in a Triathalon next year.

I don't have the exercise buddy like Jenny and Mike have, and I don't have a coach/husband like Michele has but I am going to try and self motivate, we'll see how it goes.

I've started a food/exercise journal to keep me in check. This week will be the first trial run at getting into a routine...next week is focusing on the basics and pushing myself to do a little more.

Luckily I live right next to a very large outdoor gym...the Rocky Mountains. Last weekend was a full one with kayaking which after doing the math came to about 5 hours of paddling (easy lots of floating) on Saturday and 4 hours of hard paddling on Sunday. I ran the Arkansas River down by Canon City. Of course it's always beautiful.... here is a link (below) to the group I was with and the commercial pictures. The water was muddy from all the rain the night before which made me feel like I was boating in chocolate milk.


http://www.viewmyimages.com/mp_client/pictures.asp?eventid=0&eventstatus=0&categories=no&keywords2=no&groupid=146&bw=false&sep=false

Choose the 7-22-2007_451 PVT 1245PM link on the page, I have the red helmet and orange boat, and black paddle