I was congratulating my colleague Michelle Gallardo on her triathlon finish Monday when she asked me about branching out into other sports aside from running. It turns out running is her weak event in the tri, while she is a strong and experienced swimmer. I am just the opposite, and my weak swimming is what keeps me from having any desire to do a triathlon. I enjoy running, and that's what I stick to. For the most part anyway.
I do enjoy the lake, even if I'm not planning on swimming a mile in it. So when my wife was organizing media teams for the Chicago Shoreline marathon, I immediately agreed to do it. The name is misleading. It's a kayak marathon. No running involved.
Anyway, the media teams were full of lots of friends of mine. People like Amy Freeze, Ramblin Ray Stevens, Ginger Zee, Amy Jacobson, Dina Bair. There were lots of other great folks I met for the first time that morning. They're all good athletes. And while some of us can be pretty competitive, this was just for fun. I've never been in a kayak before, and it looked like a pretty cool way to spend time in the lake. I didn't realize, at the time, that I literally meant in the water.
But I began the morning with my normal weekend long run with my regular group. We went out on the Lakefront path on the south side for a change of pace. It was a perfect morning to run. The temperature was cool, and there was a nice breeze off the lake. None of us are training for anything right now, so it was nice to be out there running for the sake of running.
But as we ran along the lake, my friends pointed out that the lake seemed a little rough. They knew, of course, that I was doing the kayak thing after our run. So they were pointing out imaginary sharks in the water, ten foot waves, anything that would make me have second thoughts. I dismissed it.
So we finished our run. I downed a couple bottles of Gatorade, and then went off to the northside for the kayaking. When I got there I learned that the winds were for real. In fact, they had shortened the course and changed direction for the pros doing the full marathon distance. And for the media teams they simply made the course a couple loops around buoys not more than a quarter mile from the shore.
It looked like a piece of cake. I had the third leg on our team. Ramblin Ray Stevens led our team off to a great start, and we were in the lead. Ginger Zee then took over, and kept us in strong contention as well. Then I got the baton. I got off to a good start and was rolling along thinking this was pretty easy.
Then I hit a wave the wrong way, and suddenly I was no longer in the boat. It was upside down in the lake, and I was treading water, trying desperately to hold on to my paddle and figure out how to turn the boat right side up. Being that this was a race, I was trying to do this as quickly as possible, and hoping to get back in before anyone noticed. There was a major embarrassment factor going on here as well.
Well, fortunately, there were a couple of safety patrols nearby, who helped me figure out how to get back in the boat, and dump the water out. I managed to get back in, and pump the rest of the water and start on my way again. I got about two turns of the paddle before I dumped into lake once more. Ok, so much for my thinking that this was easy!
By the time I managed to get back in, and make my way back to shore, we were no longer in contention. I handed the baton to our anchor leg, our 'ringer' Tracy. She had no chance to make up our deficit, and we finished well behind.
So, I learned that kayaking can be a lot of fun, and can be a really good workout for the core and upper body muscles. I also learned it takes a lot of practice, and I'm not very good at it right now. The good news is that at least I can still stick to running.
And speaking of running, the Chicago marathon folks are starting up an interesting campaign to help some of the many charities that benefit from their training and fundraising programs. You can sign a 'digital footprint' to leave your mark and contribute to each charity. That's a poor explanation, but you can find a better one on their website. Here's the link: www.chicagomarathon.com/footprint
See you on the roads....
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