Brown Bag Botanicals

I was a little familiar with this Stand Up Paddle Board (aka SUP) craze, but I didn’t really grasp why.  I’m not much into water sports like I was when I was younger (not that much younger…) but still, this didn’t seem overly appealing.  Looks nice to cruise around, but we have kayaks & that’s got to be more fun, right??

WRONG.

Some good friends of mine have an SUP company here in Sacramento called riseSUP.  Much to their urging I went out on the lake for my obligatory SUP lesson.  It took all of five minutes for me to fall in love with this sport!  YES, I said sport.  I had no idea what an incredible full body workout SUP would give me.  Holy moly!

A week later I purchased my own SUP board and in true California fashion, have been soaking up the rays almost everyday on my new toy (complete with lots-o-sunblock).  Of course I had to deck her out with custom options.  I had extra padding added to the nose of my board so my dog can cruise with me without scratching the precious finish.  And a handy-dandy bungy kit so I can go for long paddles then float for a nice little picnic in the middle of the river (or wherever my board takes me).

An extra bonus is that in just three weeks of paddling just a few days a week, I feel like my body has transformed!  In a good way…  And it hardly feels like work because it’s so fun, but you really do engage all your muscles cooperatively to gracefully glide you thru the water.  We picked up our second SUP board yesterday & both our daughters (ages 8 & 12) paddle my 10’6 board with ease. Yeah, they rock, just like their mama.  Just sayin’…

If you’re in the Sacramento area, riseSUP offers a great 90 minute intro class (complete with board) for only $35 on Weds evenings from 4:30 – 6:00pm.  They also offer bootcamps three mornings a week which is a combo of dry land and, get this, yoga on the water on the SUP boards!  SO… MUCH… FUN.  And it will kick your ass.  For you SoCal girls (& boys) check out SUPcompany in Laguna Beach.

Here’s a pic of me & my Molly cruising the scene in our backyard (aka the American River).  Life is good.