when i was there earlier this year, though, there was a dragon boat race. meann's team wasn't competing, so we just went and watched. here are some pics from that morning.
anyway, when the dates became set for my trip to dc, lan sent me an e-vite to the arboretum paddle. lan had paddled once before, and she invited lots of people to this event. sponsored by national capital area women's paddling association (ncawpa), members, family, and friends were invited to paddle up the anacostia river, dock for a potluck lunch at the national arboretum, and paddle back.
though i love the water, i'm really quite wary of anything that involves going in the middle of a body water because of the fact that i don't know how to swim. and i'm not exactly one for exercise either. but i figured this would be a safe thing, so in honor of meann, i decided to try it.
the event was supposed to start at 9am on sunday (october 26), but after getting vests and paddles, signing waiver forms, getting quick lesson on what to do, and warm-ups, we actually didn't leave the anacostia boathouse until about 10:15.
it was hard! when i first started, i was splashing the guy behind me so much. (and that's not fun, especially since the anacostia is filthy!) and i have absolutely no upper body strength, so i kept stopping. even though it was a cool morning, i quickly got hot from the vest and the exertion.
there were many newbies in the two boats, so we actually rested a lot. so, what was supposed to be a 45-minute paddle actually took us 90 minutes. it was almost noon when we got to the arboretum--that was supposed to be our estimated time of return to the boathouse.
needless to say, we were starving and immediately zoomed in to the food. thank goodness for hand sanitizer because, after getting our hands wet in that river, we certainly wouldn't want to be touching finger foods.
we were supposed to start rowing back at 1:30, so i decided to go to the restroom. this girl and i went together, but then we decided to follow two other people ahead of us. what was supposed to be a 10-minute walk turned into a 30-minute walk, since we ended up at the visitor center. it was 1:30 when we got there, and we still had to walk back. i was not a happy camper. (and i'm sure the folks who had to wait for us weren't either.)
the paddle back was even harder. i changed sides, so it was like learning all over again. and i was behind someone who was new, so i kept getting splashed (karma or what?). we raced the last 250m with the other boat. it was 3pm by the time we got back to the boathouse.
however, by the time we were done, my butt was hurting. later that afternoon, my lower back was hurting. by the next day, my shoulders and arms and legs were hurting. i was saying "ow" all day.
that was definitely an experience. i think we'd have been better off if we were paddling at a slower pace--long, slow strokes instead of their normal pace--so that we wouldn't have been so tired out and we could have gotten down the technique better. but i don't think i would mind trying it again. but it would be useless if they do their normal pace because i wouldn't be able to build endurance or learn proper techniques.
(i couldn't take pictures while we were paddling since my stuff were in the dry bag. one of lan's friends did, though, so hopefully i'll be able to get hold of a couple of the pics and post them here.)
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