Tattered and torn

(I hope you read that as though Tom Bailey from The Thompson Twins was singing Hold Me Now to you)

Yesterday was a much needed rest day from strenuous exercise but not so restful.  The night before, we went out for an evening paddle since the weather was nice.  Since we didn't go Sunday, I felt sluggish and felt every stroke.  Ten minutes in, I felt my ass getting wet again so despite the Mr checking the bail plugs, obviously one loosened after I pumped it up.  I think I pushed it down in time for it not to do too much damage.  That didn't make for a happy paddler so I'll have to permanently glue down the back ones since this butt isn't going on any rapids...ever.  We were the only ones out on the water and got further than we had the last time we went this route.  We saw a nest area and that was going to be our turnaround point.  As we paddled, tree branches were sticking out of the water here and there but nothing we couldn't maneuver around.  Then behind me I heard a splash.  The Mr went in when his skeg (fin on the bottom) hit a branch he couldn't see and it just stopped and threw him forward.  I was just thankful he didn't get hurt on a branch when he went in.  While he could touch, it was all mud which makes him nervous in shallows because he doesn't want a whole Artax in the swamp of sadness situation.  (Points if you got the reference)

I paddled over and held the board for him to swing back on and I could tell he was hurt.  I guess when he went down, he put his arm out to brace the fall and coupled with the heavy upper body circuit the night before, he was in poor paddling shape.  I begged him to let me tow him back the 2 1/2 miles so he could rest his arm but you know...man pride.  By this time, the sun was dipping behind the horizon and the bats were out.   So we just had to dig in and paddle our butts back as fast as we could.  Obviously we had our lights on our vessels but with a 13% waxing crescent moon that looked like a fingernail, it wasn't going to be much light to paddle by.

I didn't want his arm to give out and us have to try to figure out something in the dark.  All I knew is in the future, anything with branches a plenty are off limits and no shallows for him.  My mind went to the worst what if places and it's not worth the risk.  By the time we got within eye sight of the bridge which was within 1/4 mile of the launch, my hands gave up.  I had to stop using my thumbs because I could feel my tendons pulling in my arm and tendinitis for paddlers is real, yo.  We got packed back up pretty quick and despite doing stretches, my fingers were stiff and my left shoulder tweaked.  We got home and instantly showered, had some dark chocolate for our snack because 1550 calories later, I could spare the extra 40 calories from what I had planned and we both iced our shoulders.  At 2am, I was awakened by the Mr continuously rolling onto me so I got up and slept on the couch to just give him rule of the bed.  Wednesday morning we were both stiff messes and watching him try to put on a shirt was rather sad but he had to be at work so no sick day to recoup.  Well he could have but it's not in him.  Me?  I'd have done it.

I made an earlier dinner of mahi mahi over spinach and carrot polenta.

Then it was time to get all of the crap moved and ready for the basement dudes to come in today and start application one of our fix.  We were quite the pathetic pair.  He could only push so I moved most of the shelving units we put on moving sliders a few weeks ago.  I covered them with drop cloths.  Then he moved the washer and dryer because my weak azz couldn't hack it and we pulled off the dryer vent (metal accordion style) and I couldn't push it back together.  So pressure on either of our shoulders was not our friend.  We're trying to stay optimistic for a paddle tomorrow night since the workout area will be off limits.  No upper body anything tonight, that's for sure.

To relax, I popped in the pilot episode of Sleepy Hollow.  Damn that was good stuff.  I know season two went awry but we're trying to stay optimistic for upcoming season three.  Anything that gets me 41 minutes of Tom Mison once a week in hot period garb is high on my list.

Ever had an outdoor sport injury?  Chased the last winks of daylight on an outdoor activity?

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