July 13, 2013

our final training run for 2013. kaw point to waverly, 74 miles. the story of this trip was the amount of activity on the river and the epic, ceaseless, demoralizing headwind. right out of the gate we had headwind, not a good sign, the wind was coming out of the east/southeast and since we were heading in an easterly direction that meant a long day lay ahead. oh well, good training right? under the broadway bridge we spotted a beaver crossing right in front of us, so sam raises his paddle and gives the water a good whack while yelling "beeeaverrrr" and he may have startled the couple on the jogging path. such is life.
  we also saw 2 bald eagles, 12+ basketballs, 2 river camps, 2 dozen or more fishing vessels, 1 gar, 1 dredge , 1 moving sand barge, and 1 kayaker going upstream.
  my food supply was a little light this trip, i really needed 1 more savory item and i would have been fine but as such the last few hours or so were spent thinking about this big ol burger i was going to have once we got to waverly. i kept talking about it to sam, and as we rounded the 2nd to last bend coming into waverly (still 4 miles out) i could almost smell the burgers, then i could almost taste the burgers. i am telling all this to sam and we are laughing and carrying on but then he smells it too! just then we realize there is a cabin on the north side of the river with a grill going the deck cooking burgers. we did not ask for one but they were very nice and remarked about us having a good ol time out on the river.

 even though there was a miserable headwind we managed to keep a pace that was the same or even slightly better than last year. all hope is not lost but our dreams of a 65 hour finish may be in jeopardy. as i write this 2 days later i'm a tad sore but am ready to get back on the water. for whatever reason time on the water went by pretty quick last weekend, maybe there was less to worry about? the moon? who knows, regardless a week from tomorrow we are going to give it a whirl.

  our lovely spouses have agreed to ground crew for us this year, i want to thank them publicly in advance. i hope they know what they've gotten themselves into.

taking a break in the headwind, sam trying to demonstrate how windy is was...

river doods at waverly.

bitchin sunset at waverly.

JULY 6. 2013

Sam and I put in a 50 mile training run last Saturday, Kaw point to Lexington, MO. The river level has dipped to about 11.5 feet at the KC gauge, near where it was last year and about 4' less than out last outing. This run presented a more realistic view of what we are in for this year, slower water speed, headwinds, horseflies, heat - all the stuff that makes an adventure an adventure. Our gear seems pretty tuned in, need to add a few things to our supplies, athletic tape, more advil, spare shades but i feel like we are fairly prepared with our gear. I wish we could have gotten more miles on the river to date but such is life and we are where we are.
  I have found myself talking about how the sense of adventure isn't quite the same this time around. It feels like it is not quite as mysterious as last year, which is to be expected i suppose. Our goals have changed, i feel like we are fairly prepared, the river still feels good and i love being out there but once you are on the river a large portion of the challenge is mental. What i found on last saturday's run was that it's really not easy to get into a mental state that allows you to sit still, in a boat, and paddle for 8 hours. Last year leading up to the race the training runs were a great time to think about all kinds of things relating to the race and it helped pass the time and i remember the start of the race last year getting all antsy and getting all our stuff together and getting in the boat the starting gun going off and boom, sit still for the next 18hrs. On saturday it seemed like it took me a good 3 hours to get into the "zone" but i had a hard time staying there seemed like it would come and go. Maybe that is the challenge this year, focus on the task at hand. This race is a really great exercise for living a lifestyle that is less distracted, more focused. At some point on the river, probably near the end of the first day, all the nervous energy will be spent and it will be easy to focus on the task at hand-- keeping it pointed down stream.

ft. osage railraod bridge looking upstream.

kaw point, looking up the kaw river.