{"id":16035,"date":"2018-04-18T15:35:12","date_gmt":"2018-04-18T22:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=16035"},"modified":"2018-05-03T19:58:36","modified_gmt":"2018-05-04T02:58:36","slug":"dont-eat-the-greens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2018\/04\/18\/dont-eat-the-greens\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Eat the Greens"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the night after the preliminary round at the Freestyle Kayaking World Championships in San Juan, Argentina. I was having a celebratory dinner with my parents after placing 5th<\/sup> in prelims, guaranteeing myself a spot in the quarterfinals round, and all around exceeding my expectations for this competition. Per usual, the conversation was centered on what everyone was ordering for dinner.<\/p>\n

Mom wanted a salad but retracted her decision when she remembered her travel nurse at home had warned her to avoid eating uncooked vegetables while traveling in South America. Apparently, the cook could have used the bathroom, not washed their hands, and then handled the vegetables, thus providing us weak-stomached Americans with an easy vessel for eating poo. With many international trips under my belt, I considered myself a very experienced traveler. I gave her a snarky reply, something along the lines of, \u201cYou can\u2019t always be in fear of getting sick while traveling. At some point, you just have to live your life.\u201d I then proceeded to order a cheeseburger accompanied by a giant green salad.<\/p>\n

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Brooke competing at Worlds in San Juan, Argentina. Photo: Alan Ward<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My late fall\/winter schedule was hectic. After world championships, I returned to the States for four days before flying to Uganda to spend three weeks training for Unleashed, a multi-stage, invite-only competition on the massive whitewater of the soon-to-be-dammed White Nile.<\/p>\n

I competed in Unleashed last spring in Quebec and was fairly happy with my performance, however, due to my lack of experience paddling steep creeks, I had decided to sit out of one of the competition stages. This time, though, there wouldn\u2019t be a creek race. I had spent the previous month training for and competing in world championships, and the six months before that paddling full-time on the big water of Quebec and Ontario. I was strong, confident, and paddling better than ever before. My first day on Nile Special was incredible. I was in a new-to-me carbon boat and I felt like I was flying. In my second ride, I stuck the biggest head-dry airscrew of my life. My stoke level was through the roof.<\/p>\n