I am close to being asleep on my feet, except that I’m not standing, so that would be asleep on my ass. Yes, I’m that tired. I think I’ve shared that I work for a marine mammal facility. In addition to the animals that live in our family, we also volunteer for the state/federal agencies that are responsible for manatees. For the last several days, our manatee rescue team has been out desperately searching for an orphaned baby. I am not being overly, or unnecessarily dramatic when I say that the situation is critical. If we do not find this baby, it will most likely die.
A lot of the time when we go on rescue missions, my role is pretty non-physical. It’s been a lot different this last week.
I got back from vacation late on Friday and went out with the team all day on Saturday. It might sound silly, but spending all day on a small boat can still be tiring – particularly coming off as active a week as my friend and I enjoyed at Universal Studios. So, by Saturday night I was very sleepy. Okay. Long day. I can deal.
I didn’t go with the team on Sunday or Monday. Yesterday, we needed as many people spread out over the area as possible, so instead of being on the boat, I kayaked. For at least five hours. On the 21 Day Fix routine, yesterday would have been devoted to upper body. Trust me. after the kayaking, I didn’t need to run the exercise DVD. I think my upper body got worked more than enough, thanks. When I finally got home, all I wanted was a hot shower and an o-t-c pain reliever. I was in bed by 10 p.m.
Unfortunately, we didn’t find the baby yesterday so we went back out today. More kayaking for me. I really got into the whole rhythm of the movement. Then it got a little broken up when I jumped off of the kayak to help haul a very heavy net through the water. Piece of cake. Not completely unlike trying to drag a stubborn team of mules but without the mules’ ability to actually move forward on their own.
It was another long, hot, tiring, frustrating, discouraging day. I came home, showered again and went to Tai Chi class.
Not to be all whiny and stuff, but my muscles ache, I have a headache, and, for the first time in a long time, I actually “feel my age”. During Tai Chi class, I was so tired, I couldn’t maintain my focus on the moves. It was awful.
To be honest, I don’t actually know what my age (56) should feel like. I realize that it’s only an expression, but I get it tonight. I’m sore. I’ll be lucky if I stay awake 10 minutes after I hit Publish on this blog post. My energy decided to take a hike. My booyah attitude is currently M.I.A.
Sometimes I really need to force myself to remember that I’m not a kid anymore. I’m not ready for a rocking chair and retirement, but even with my increased fitness, it’s okay for me to feel like I overexerted when that’s exactly what I did. Maybe I’m feeling the effects of having kayaked for several hours, but I won’t lose sight of the fact that, hot damn, I kayaked for several hours!
At least these days when I feel my age, I’m age-appropriate. There was a time when I felt far older than my years and knew, just knew, that I was getting old before my time. This is better. Much better.
Now it’s time for a little self-care in the form of another dose of pain relief, followed by going to bed. I need my rest.
The Foam Glow 5K is this Saturday. I have to be ready!
Weighty Matters 
Several hours of kayaking would wipe *me* out!