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Tuesday, May 23, 2006
May Madness
Greetings, Gentle Reader.
It's been a long time since the last entry, and I have no excuse other than the nature of May in the life of a teacher. We do pay our dues for the halcyon summer days ahead, and May is uphill in many ways. Sure, there is the euphoria that students and teachers alike feel as we anticipate summer, but end-of-year stuff (exams for students, everything else for teachers) has a way of making one gasp for the finish line.
And while we're on the topic of gasping, because of the aforementioned, my training routine has not been established. I'm kind of resigned to the fact that I really won't be training in earnest...or with intensity...until June. So for those of you good-naturedly asking me, "How's the training going?" even as you observe no apparent change in my physical appearance, back off for a while, OK? I'll be good to go. How far is the question.
I've gotten some great training tips from you, my readers. For example, Kate recommends yoga. I know nothing about yoga, but it is clear that if I followed some of her suggestions, I would come to know a lot more about myself. And at last weekend's Yale graduation, Mark said that Jorge Posada urinates on his hands during the pre-season to toughen them up more quickly....which begs the question, if this is true, of how might I induce Jorge to urinate on my hands? I'm attentive to all of your helpful tips. Keep them coming.
My only relevant training yesterday involved resetting a portion of an obstacle course we set up for our students. One of the tasks was to carry a cinder block about 30 yards, and I volunteered to "reset" the blocks after each pair of contestants passed through. Good arm and back work, I thought. We have about 178 kids in our school; they all ran the course in pairs, and I will only report that brushing my teeth last night was a kind of mechanical affair.
And the pressure to perform on the water builds as well. If you run the numbers on tonight's Pledge Paddle, I'd be raising $12.65 with each mile rowed to Baltimore. At 4 mph, that's over $50. per hour....$400. per diem (8 hrs, of course, unless I start the yoga and urinating program right away)...so clearly, even at this point, the incentive to pull is significant. Thanks, folks, for making it happen.
It seems that each time I read a little bit in depth about waypoints on my trip, I find my eyes resting on copy which, before, would not have drawn much attention. Tonight I was reading about Cape May, NJ, my turning point into Delaware Bay presaging my final sprint (yoga, urinate!) to Baltimore. The Chamber describes the rip currents through their canal (built to shelter ships from marauding U boats during WW2) and celebrates their shark tournaments. Clearly, this was not written to entice the Adirondack Guideboat community. Upstream from Cape May, the C&D canal offers a 6 knot current as the tide goes out...and the promise of either a Nantucket Sleigh Ride-like launch into the top of the Chesepeake or the embarassment of a majestic -2 knot reentry into the Delaware, depending on how I time it. Metaphoric, yes? I'd hate to see that Pledge Paddle meter running backwards.
More soon, Gentle Reader. Thanks for being aboard.
It's been a long time since the last entry, and I have no excuse other than the nature of May in the life of a teacher. We do pay our dues for the halcyon summer days ahead, and May is uphill in many ways. Sure, there is the euphoria that students and teachers alike feel as we anticipate summer, but end-of-year stuff (exams for students, everything else for teachers) has a way of making one gasp for the finish line.
And while we're on the topic of gasping, because of the aforementioned, my training routine has not been established. I'm kind of resigned to the fact that I really won't be training in earnest...or with intensity...until June. So for those of you good-naturedly asking me, "How's the training going?" even as you observe no apparent change in my physical appearance, back off for a while, OK? I'll be good to go. How far is the question.
I've gotten some great training tips from you, my readers. For example, Kate recommends yoga. I know nothing about yoga, but it is clear that if I followed some of her suggestions, I would come to know a lot more about myself. And at last weekend's Yale graduation, Mark said that Jorge Posada urinates on his hands during the pre-season to toughen them up more quickly....which begs the question, if this is true, of how might I induce Jorge to urinate on my hands? I'm attentive to all of your helpful tips. Keep them coming.
My only relevant training yesterday involved resetting a portion of an obstacle course we set up for our students. One of the tasks was to carry a cinder block about 30 yards, and I volunteered to "reset" the blocks after each pair of contestants passed through. Good arm and back work, I thought. We have about 178 kids in our school; they all ran the course in pairs, and I will only report that brushing my teeth last night was a kind of mechanical affair.
And the pressure to perform on the water builds as well. If you run the numbers on tonight's Pledge Paddle, I'd be raising $12.65 with each mile rowed to Baltimore. At 4 mph, that's over $50. per hour....$400. per diem (8 hrs, of course, unless I start the yoga and urinating program right away)...so clearly, even at this point, the incentive to pull is significant. Thanks, folks, for making it happen.
It seems that each time I read a little bit in depth about waypoints on my trip, I find my eyes resting on copy which, before, would not have drawn much attention. Tonight I was reading about Cape May, NJ, my turning point into Delaware Bay presaging my final sprint (yoga, urinate!) to Baltimore. The Chamber describes the rip currents through their canal (built to shelter ships from marauding U boats during WW2) and celebrates their shark tournaments. Clearly, this was not written to entice the Adirondack Guideboat community. Upstream from Cape May, the C&D canal offers a 6 knot current as the tide goes out...and the promise of either a Nantucket Sleigh Ride-like launch into the top of the Chesepeake or the embarassment of a majestic -2 knot reentry into the Delaware, depending on how I time it. Metaphoric, yes? I'd hate to see that Pledge Paddle meter running backwards.
More soon, Gentle Reader. Thanks for being aboard.
