Marathon K2 time trial

26km, 6 portages, 5barking dogs, 4children, several oblivious adults holding balls (and throwing them), and 2+hrs later Anne Blanchard and myself completed the a K2 marathon time trial in the allotted time earning us a slot on the US Marathon team. The team will be heading to Crestuma, Portugal for the 2009 Marathon Canoe/Kayak World Championships Sept 17-18.
Our time trial was done on a 6 lap 4.3km course with 6 150m portages through a picnic area, when I designed the said course this picnic area was people and pet free this was not the case on the beautiful sunny Sunday on which the race was completed.
The first lap and portage went off with out a hitch our boat speed was awesome and it felt effortless, the start of lap two was still feeling good, as we rounded the buoy to head in to the portage a second time I saw a few people gathered by the water with 2dogs "no big deal I thought when they see us coming they will move, or at least not throw the ball it to the water for the dogs to chase right?" no such luck. We shouted excuse me, excuse me, followed by a short explanation of what we were doing and that we would be back around. Ok that should cover it, we hopped back into the K2 and brought the boat up to speed setting out for the rest of the lap, a boat full of fishermen cheered us on and a loan kayaker or two looked at us slightly confused as we passed bye for the second time, wasnt one lap enough?
On to lap three and the 3rd portage, it seemed as if the crowed on shore had grown and it also appeared from a distance that several more dogs and a few small humans commonly referred to as toddlers were amoung the group hanging out at our put in and take out, "ok" I thought "they should move a little they know whats going on now" oh no was I mistaken. As we rounded the buoy a humanoid threw a ball into the water directly at us, the shore surged as 4 dogs lept into motion to follow the ball, converging on our location..... A few hard strokes a quick turn of the rudder and a brace brought us safely around the dogs and in striking distance of the toddlers, in the end all were safely avoided and the portage completed this little dance remained the norm for the rest of the time trial it seems that repetition did not help these souls figure out that we would be back. In the end all was well we made time standard, no one was injured and a new level of team work emerged for Anne and I.
We both look foreward to many more marathons together and a great showing at Worlds!