Wicked Welts and Aching Muscles Equal a Good Time

This morning, I woke up exhausted and aching despite having crawled to bed early on Sunday night. My body feels shriveled like a grape or a dried date; actually, it’s more like my muscles feel that way - tight, very, very tight.

I spent the weekend with my team in Lachine at a dragon boat training camp, which was a ton of fun. My confidence in my skill has increased ten-fold based on the feedback from our instructor. Every muscle in my body aches and my butt is raw from the hard seats; my scalp and my lips are burnt from the sun. But I had so much fun!! It was great getting to know some of our teammates, too, despite those same teammates sabotaging my good intentions to return to Ottawa on Saturday night!

For my marathon training, this weekend was to have been our last long run before the race, which is only two weeks away now. I intended to do the 20km run with my group on Sunday morning, having returned from Montreal on Saturday night. However, on Saturday evening I was sabotaged with one too many beers and so could not drive home safely. Instead, I remained in Montreal and participated in the second day of training camp, and missed my run with a promise from Mark that he will ride alongside me on Monday night so that I wouldn’t have to do my run alone.

Despite my immense guilt and self-berating for missing the run, I really enjoyed doing the second day of the camp and was also able to pick up my brand new paddle, which I’d purchased the day before. I’m so excited to have my own paddle now!

Last night when we got back, I roused myself from my cloud of pain and did a gentle, extremely relaxing 6 km run. It must not have been gentle enough, though, because I think I’ve strained my right quadricep. I know I should take today off; however, I’m a stubborn cow and I’m doing my 20km run tonight!! Nothing is stopping me except maybe a thunderstorm!