I’ve really been having a tough time running lately. My knees, which have never given me problems before, are not happy. It’s even more odd that it is both of them in the same place. In the front, just to the inside of the kneecap. Probably just old age and treachery catching up with me. But it’s kind of depressing. About the only thing I can do now is swim.
Yeah, yeah… I know. So shut up and swim.
The boy and I are still lifting pretty routinely (as much as my schedule allows) and that doesn’t hurt my knees. In fact, my leg press weights are going up. I did, however, drop squats from the list. I have added more shoulder and core stuff instead. Still no dips yet. My shoulders are still a bit pissed at me.
Way back in the day, I took a kayaking class in college. It was the full whitewater class. We were in whitewater boats with spray skirts and learned to roll, etc. Our final was on one of the few whitewater rivers in Oklahoma. It was fun but we never got to anything above about a class 2-3. Another one of my classmates lost her paddle in one of the few bumpy spots and crashed into me, knocking us both out of our boats and sending me (an admitted poor swimmer at the time) on a hair raising ride down the river. Although I was in no real danger, it let me know that if I ever wanted to kayak, I really needed to learn to swim. I marked that one off the list and never went back.
Recently though, in the past few years I have been thinking about kayaking again. Not whitewater, although Missouri has some good stuff, but flat water. For exercise and adventure. We have a couple of great spots very close to home and it would be a great break from the swim/bike/run routine (since I can’t find anyplace smooth enough to endurance skate in this state!). It’s low impact and, most importantly, I can swim 2 miles without stopping now. I think I’m good if I fall out of the boat… 
However, in this age of downsizing and cutting back on hobbies, this would seem to be the last thing I need. I didn’t give it much thought. In fact, I put it in the “WANT” pile on my wish list and had mostly moved on. However, having friends that like outdoor pursuits can be a good thing and a bad thing. A friend of mine who is getting more into kayaking just upgraded to a faster boat and she was selling her old one. It’s a stable little kayak. Great for beginners. Light enough to transport on top of my tiny car. She even had a paddle and seat for it.
*sigh*
Sometimes opportunity comes along and you have to jump on it. I was selling a bike trainer and some other stuff and had just enough money to get it, so I did. I’m still not sure how I’m going to transport it, but what the hell. I’ve spent a lot of my life wishing I had capitalized on opportunities and regretting missing them. This won’t be one of them. And, since I will most likely be working until I die, I might as well have my “retirement” around the edges of work and have fun when I can. The only problem (besides transportation) that I see now is having to wait until the weather warms up…
My irrational fear of the day is that I will love it.
Yes, I said that.
What I mean is that there are 4 of us and we have 1 kayak. Even as I was writing the check I was thinking this probably won’t be the only one we get. The I had a flash of 4 kayaks and all the peripherals that go along with them. A trailer, tow hitch for the van, paddles, life vests, helmets (for whitewater), etc. and then I broke out in a cold sweat. This used, $200 kayak is probably going to cost me thousands of dollars.
Then I will be faced with choices. We have a very finite amount of money. So to add something like this to the mix, the only way is to sell something else… But what? Woodworking stuff? Triathlon/biking stuff? Kidneys? Plasma?
I don’t know. I’m lost on this one. I guess I’ll just wait and see. I do know that I can’t let myself regret buying the kayak though. I think it will be a fun new adventure for the whole family. And that’s what I really want. I hope they like it as much as I know I will. Even if it does cost me a kidney… 
No quote today but just to share that we have named the kayak Jammy Dodger I. Bonus points if you can tell me what movie that is from.
I saw the movie in question. Rita was the owner of the boat.