Two Harbors Kayak Festival

Under what appeared to be not so bad of conditions according to what the sky looked like, I looked at the water before departing and thought that this was the worst conditions I have attempted to kayak in. Usually I talked myself out of going on days like this. Actually, I spent a few too many minutes in the bathroom prior to the gun going off (that's what happens when you are new to a race) so I was still on shore when the starting gun went off. I had to scramble to get in my boat and I lost a couple of minutes because of that. In the water I fought hard with one goal in mind. . .to not tip over. I seriously thought if I tipped over in any water very deep, it would be hard for me to get back in my kayak. I didn't tip over, although I hit a rock rounding the island midway through. The boat there for watching the kayakers had a couple of guys taking pictures during the race and they snapped a few of me while I was trying to get myself off of the rock. I scratched the bottom of my kayak pretty bad, but kept on going. I finished in 3:49:56, which was 4th out of 5 in the male 16-29 composite category and 24th out of 36 overall. This was definitely an event I would like to try again. Finishers receive a fired pottery medal which is unlike any I have seen before.