no name post on a Muhndaze eve

Sarah has a nice little post about ‘taking care of oneself,,,’ and I gotta say, YUP!!!

I like kayaking, y’all know that.  It’s great exercise, its great sanity breaks from reality, its mental and spiritual in many ways,,,,

AND IT AIN’T HUMPIN’ A 80# RUCK UP A DAMNED MOUNTAIN,,,, LOL.   

Been there Done that, and let me tell you, the damage it left behind haunts me still.  Blown knees, compressed vertebrae, ragged shoulders, you name it, prolly has it.

And why I use a greenland paddle for kayaking.   If I do a couple miles with the ‘normal’ euro type blade, my shoulders are shitte for days afterwards, but!,, all day with a greenland, I am fine and dandy afterwards and not aching (much) the next day.   I feel it, you can be sure, but I am not lamed: and I know for a fact that 7 miles downriver with a euro-blade leaves lasting aches for days, even though half the run was simply floating between rapids.

And it ain’t humpin’ a 80# riuck up a damned mountain,,,,   

I do hump that 60+# kayak to the shore/put-in but I do keep it short, and there are times where getting back to the truck,,,,   I cheat, I have a kayak dolly for those times, but if I am fresh, I don’t use it because that is part of my agreement with myself to ‘keep healthy’.    (and humping 60# that is 17′ long, in wind,,,,   can get a little interesting,,,,)

And trust me, paddling a longboat, especially when racing, you are not ‘just sitting there’.  You use your legs, hips, core, ESPECIALLY THE CORE if you are paddling properly, shoulders arms, even your neck if the water is ‘not flat’.   Do that for a few miles, and feel a difference in short order.   Do what Mark Ervin has been doing and have a lean mean fighting machine in a year: at the age of 65!!!   He paddles on average 30km a day, and has covered much more than that dependent upon conditions/needs: I believe 60+ one day on the east coast

I know for certain, in the here and now reality of my world,  I would fall out around 20km.   Not at all proud of that, just being realistic in my assessment of my ‘shape’.   (sort of roundish in the middle,,,,). I also know the damage years of smoking and welding have done to my lungs,,,  Self inflicted wound and if I could go back to that saturday morning when I bought my first pack of smokes, bust my young ass upside the head and show, not just the physical damage inflicted, but the sheer amount of money gone, literarily ‘up in smoke’,,,,,Oh, how if I could,,,,  wouldashouldacoulda’s,,,, 

I digress,,,,

Maybe you have said it, I know I have, I have heard it from others as well: “If I had known I was going to last this long, I’d have taken better care of this old body.”    

Only, I don’t think we would.   For example, I know what things are bad for me, but that doesn’t stop me.   I know drinking in excess is bad, but I still tie one on, on occasion.  I still smoke, way less than I did, but it’s still there,,,(and I still fight that feeling brain over it,,,, logic has nothing to do with it,,,,)

All we can do is make the best of what we have NOW, and maybe pull it back from the brink of whatever ails you may have in your life (mine is lack of breath that leads to low stamina. BUT, I am improving.   If only I could make kayaking pay,,,, ROFL). Find something to do everyday, that you enjoy doing, even if its just walking a trail at the local park.   BUT DO IT.   I may not get the ‘yaks on water everyday, but I do put 20 minutes on the Erg, even if I don’t want to (usually those are the days where the evil thinking brain wins out over feely brain and tortures the poor body that carries both, usually with more than 20 minutes worth.).  And like Sarah states in her post, work on that sleep thing.  its important.   I have my routine, and its very much tied into solar cycles and that seems to work well for me.  I don’t break it very often but I have to ‘observe’ summer routines in winter or I would get jack shit accomplished

apologies,,,, its Muhnday, things started wonky and went sideways, and my brain has been hit or miss today,,,   I have a grasp of WHAT/WHY but my thoughts are running on percolate mode,,, things just sort of pop to the surface and make lots of ripples, disturbing all that was already there.    

I think I need a vakay from 2watt flicker bulbs,,,,,   (and today, had the old christmas light strand form of employee: 5 week old kittens have better short term memory,,,,,).  I need to get back into a daily routine with some of the suggestions Sarah makes about limiting tech time,,,,  More dead tree reading, ealier dinners or light snack if no able to meet the ‘schedule’ (big time belief of mine that eating after 5pm helps the ‘spread’ grow.  Dunno if its valid, but I do know that, ME, eating a meal after 5, I always feel like crap the next day and it takes longer to get the engines up to speed with proper oil pressure,,,,YMMV)

more laters, when I can put a nail in the brain and hold it in place while I clean the ick out of the folds.