I spent ten hours this past weekend learning how to white water kayak in the Potomac River. This past winter, I signed up for a month of lessons through the organization that put on the winter rolling pool sessions of which I attended three. This weekend was a two-day group lesson with about 15 people and 3 instructors and I had a great time even though I am so sore all over my entire body when I woke up this morning.
I love things that put me with new groups of people. Nursing did that and this does it too. It’s a little bit expensive and a little bit adventurous, so I got introduced to a bunch of young professionals, pre-kids who are rugged outdoors people. They argue over the best pizza place in downtown DC. They talk about moving to different places to try out different cities in this young-person kind of way. It’s very nice. The instructors are all my age though all male. I am very comfortable in the water, but I do not like to take risks. So I’m not ambitious in the sense that I don’t ever want to do dangerous things in the water, I just want to have fun. And I got to do that, I got to flip my kayak upside down in the river and re-right myself. I got to go on a rope swing and cannonball into a river. I got to learn to do S curves and paddle upstream for like a quarter of a mile (quite a workout) and while far from the best in the group and often times bringing up the rear, I could decently keep up without any pain in my body and I was so grateful for that.
I really loved this weekend. I hardly get to do these types of things. I’ve run alongside the Potomac for a decade and seen boater/kayakers from the trail, but I’ve never been in the water. It feels like getting to know a friend better, you know?