An Urban Boychick Takes on the Outdoors

An old photo of mine was selected as the January picture for this year's Chesapeake Paddler's Assocation Calendar. Reprinted here is Susanita's excellent write-up of our trip that day: Post subject: Mason Neck Trip Report -- December 30, 2004 http://members.bellatlantic.net/~jaronson/pirates/MasonNeck123004_005.JPG How much would you bid for a hundred dollars? I'm hacking away at yet another layer of ice with a three foot piece of wood I've scavenged from the shore when I hear my paddling partner, Jesse calling my name from his kayak. He's just launched and is moving slowly in the water. As I turn to towards his voice I feel my mouth drop. I can't believe how far away he is. I have hacked my way through ice clearly 300 yards from shore. I can just barely make out the image as he begins to paddle through the ice. But I can clearly hear the crunch of ice meeting fiberglass. http://members.bellatlantic.net/~jar...

This morning I went out for a run despite feeling really crappy (I have a cold). I find it painful to breathe out in the cold when I'm sick (and even when I'm not). This can be a real problem for me when I go running. Today I got a really bad side-stitch after about 1/2 mile, so I droppped back to walking and forced myslef to breathe deeply. After about a minute I felt better and continued with running, still focusing on breathing. No problems after that. The bike trail still had signs up pointing the way to downtown DC for the inauguration. That made me smile. I was tempted to take one as a souvenir, but they're actually useful on a longer term basis and so I decided to leave them be. In one of my recent posts I talked about the Bluemont Park restroom. When I stopped there today I noticed that someone had etched "Property of Arlington County Parks and Rec" onto the flush valves of the toilets. Last time I reported on how I found the restroom inspirational; today ...

Yesterday morning it was off to the pool again for another rolling session. As I passed the Metro Station I saw signs of inaugural activity. There were people heading for the trains to head downtown for the concert. There were porta-potties by the station entrance (to handle the overflow crowds?). Tour buses were zipping hither and yon. At the pool I once again worked on my offside roll - that is, rolling the kayak in the opposite direction. Everyone has an "onside" and and "offside" - like being right or left-handed. My onside rolls are pretty bombproof but my offside has been non-existent. Yesterday, though, it worked! I was doing ear-to-the-water braces, sculling braces, and even rolls on the off side. Not with a 100% success rate, but far better than ever before. Could this be a sign that we're heading in a new direction?

I usually slug down a cup of coffee before going out running in the morning, so by the time I hit the midpoint of my run I’m ready to take advantage of the facilities. Fortunately, the turnaround point on my most common route is right near the restrooms in a local park. Every run, my ritual of visiting the Bluemont Park restrooms is the same. First, I am pleasantly surprised to find the bathroom open, even though it’s routinely open. Next, I slowly enter the bathroom. Before I get too far from the door, I peek into the stalls as best I can to scope out any dangerous people who might be lurking there. In the many years I’ve been using the park restroom I have never, ever felt threatened. In fact, it’s rare to even find it occupied at all, and yet I always check. As I advance into the place I take a look around and marvel at the fact that everything is clean and working, and that the place isn’t graffiti’d or otherwise trashed. Again, I get this feeling of happy surprise despite years of...

I open my eyes and see that it's 8 AM. This is a good thing. Good because I got a decent amount of sleep despite having been up quite late cleaning up after a New Year's party, and good because it still gives me plenty of time to get to the launch site by 11. Being New Year's Day, it's time for the first kayaking trip of the year! Actually, today's trip was a little bit in doubt - yesterday was brutally cold and incredibly windy. One of our friends who had planned a New Year's Day paddling trip over in Maryland canceled because of the weather, which, I have to admit, was a major motivating force in getting our group organized and out on the water - nothing like a little machismo to get you going in the morning. After my morning ritual of lubricating the brain with a few cups of coffee while staring uncomprehendingly at the newspaper, I chipped some ice off my kayak, loaded it and my gear up, and headed for the meeting point at Bladensburg Park. As I approached t...