I paddled around Medina Lake in a clear plastic kayak. Pam LeBlanc photo

I felt like I was floating in a water glass last week, when I paddled across Medina Lake in a clear plastic kayak.

Below me, just green-blue water, pierced by flashes of sunlight. Above me, blue sky like a water color painting.

Former Olympic kayaker Ben Kvanli had met me at the lake to show me around for another story I’m working on. While he zipped around in a tiny whitewater kayak, I paddled the two-person “glass-bottomed kayak” by myself. It’s plastic, not glass, but did remind me of the boats I rode Aquarena Springs in San Marcos as a kid.

I was hoping to get a glimpse of sea serpents and mermaids, but all I really saw was some undulating aquatic plants, rocks and deep water.

Kvanli, though, offers guided tours in the clear boats on the San Marcos River. There, participants in his 2-hour eco-tours can check out the native and endangered Texas Wild Rice, and perhaps catch a glimpse of a few turtles or fish. He also offers evening “glow” tours, during which he attaches bright LED lights beneath the boats.

“There’s a tree where herrings gather, and especially at night its very interesting,” Kvanli says. “We paddle up to them and they look like they’re glowing. It’s the best beginning.”

Kvanli says he first saw the clear boats in Hawaii. He now has 10 of them, and can take out groups of up to 20. The trips are offered at 9 a.m. or 8 p.m., when the water is the clearest. Cost is $30 per person.

Customers meet at Kvanli’s place at 602 North Interstate 35 in San Marcos to gear up. They’re driven upstream, then paddle back down the river, getting kayaking tips and information about the local habitat, history and geology along the way.

To sign up for one of Kvanli’s trips, go to https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/284623.  Come prepared to get wet; wear swimwear and river shoes, and bring water and snacks.

Sheila Reiter and I plucked these balls out of Lady Bird Lake during a paddling session on Tuesday. Pam LeBlanc photo

It turns out that canoe racing helps make Lady Bird Lake a cleaner place.

That’s because it’s become something of a game among local paddlers training for the Texas Water Safari to pick up balls – tennis, ping pong, whiffle and others – that they find while training.

If you’ve explored Lady Bird Lake, you’ve no doubt spotted a bobbing yellow tennis ball or two. Most of them are runaways from dog parks at Red Bud Isle and Vic Mathias Shores.

Plenty of paddlers fetch errant balls, but veteran canoe racer Mike Gordon got the ball officially rolling, if you will, when he began posting about his finds on the ATX Paddlers group page on FaceBook. He calls the effort his Ball Collection Quest, and he’s snagged well more than 100 orbs from Lady Bird Lake so far this year.

Here are some of the balls that Mike Gordon has fetched from the lake. Mike Gordon photo

“This is the first year I’ve made it a must-do game and priority,” Gordon says. “Most paddlers pick them up when it’s easy and they’re on training lines. But it takes a bit of crazy to make it a game.”
I like that game. Guess I’m crazy.

Others have joined in, including enthusiastic ball nabber Geoff Waters. I spotted him on Lady Bird Lake Tuesday with a boatload of balls, including five tennis balls, a soft ball, a ping pong ball and a blue kids’ ball.

“I don’t ignore other trash,” Waters says. “I also got half dozen Styrofoam cups, a similar number of plastic bottles and some miscellaneous Styrofoam chunks.”

Geoff Waters collected 33 balls in one trip, after the weekend rains. Geoff Waters photo

This after hauling in 33 balls earlier in the week, after the weekend’s torrential rains. Last week, he brought in a slightly smaller catch, plus an empty glass booze bottle. He posted a photo, noting that “maybe if the dogs quit drinking they’d be able to fetch their dang balls.”

 I scored seven tennis balls, a ping pong ball (where are they coming from?) and a random plastic ball during a training run Tuesday with Sheila Reiter. We plucked them out of the lake and I took them home for proper disposal.

If you’re out on the lake, please pick up a ball or two. The dogs can’t get ‘em all.

Chris Eddy paddles Lady Bird Lake with a four-legged friend. Photo courtesy Blipic

Sure, you can lift weights or climb a man-made wall indoors, but for most folks, the simplest form of fitness starts when you step outside.

That’s the philosophy behind the upcoming Austin Sunshine Challenge, and it makes sense to me.

Just moving around under the sun – walking, biking, gardening or going to the park – gives me a boost both mentally and physically. It’s why I spend as much time as possible paddling rivers, cycling, strolling my neighborhood and swimming.

Almost any outdoor activity scores points in the Austin Sunshine Challenge. Photo courtesy Blipic

The four-week Sunshine Challenge encourages people to open the door and leave their air-conditioned sanctums. The rest happens organically.

Teams of four will compete to earn “sunshine points,” which they can accrue by attending organized group activities like yoga sessions or Camp Gladiator classes, park visits, lake cleanups, hikes, walks or dog meetups. Teams track their standings in the Blipic app, which connects active people to cool fitness-oriented activities around Austin.

“When you spend time outdoors, magical things happen,” says Chris Eddy, founder of Blipic and creator of the challenge.

Hiking, biking and participating in fitness classes counts in the Austin Sunshine Challenge. Photo courtesy Blipic

It costs $80 per team to register. The challenge starts April 20 and goes through May 18.Tosign up, go to blipic.co/asc/.

Everyone who registers gets four weeks of class and activity access, a T-shirt or tank top, and entry into a raffle. An awards ceremony on May 18 at The Domain, co-sponsored by the American Heart Association, will include fitness events, kids’ activities, sponsor tents, lawn games, snacks and a disc jockey.

Two years ago, I ran the Bare Buns 5K race in McDade. It was breezy.

Two years ago this month, I peeled off my clothes and ran a naked 5K race, just to see what it would feel like.

It felt great.

The most awkward moment came when I initially removed my clothing. After that, it was just running as usual as I scampered over pine needle-covered hills, sandy expanses and a hay field. I wore running shoes and a straw cowboy hat, which blew off my head at one point.

RELATED: What’s it like to run a naked 5K? Fit City found out

Runners can wear whatever clothing they want (sports bras for women, for example), but most go nude except for shoes. The race typically draws about 130 runners. Afterward, everyone gathers by the swimming pool for a celebration and burger cookoff.

This year’s Bare Buns 5K Fun Run is set for 1 p.m. Saturday, April 13 at the Star Ranch Nudist Resort in McDade, a private residential community that opened in 1957 in McDade, east of Elgin.

Start of the Bare Buns 5K in McDade two years ago.

The resort is member resort of the American Association for Nude Recreation. The Bare Buns 5K is part of a series of naked races in the organization’s southwest region. Star Ranch also host the closing race in the series – the Chilly Cheeks Fun Run in October.

The chip-timed race starts at 1 p.m. Entry fee is $40 for adults, or $45 on race day. Sign up online at http://www.starranch.net. Registration fee includes a T-shirt and goodie bag. Refreshments will be available at the pool.

For more information, contact the Star Ranch office at 512-273-2257, go to http://www.starranch.net or email info@starranch.net.

A team pushes off at the start of the 2018 Texas Water Safari. Pam LeBlanc photo

I spent a lot of hours last weekend driving around Texas with veteran endurance canoe racer Debbie Richardson riding shotgun in my truck.

Richardson has completed the Texas Water Safari 11 times. I’m registered to do the 260-mile paddle race from San Marcos to Seadrift on the Texas coast this year. I’m equal parts excited beyond belief and scared out of my pants, so this time in the truck with Richardson was both terrifying and reassuring.

Debbie Richardson paddles the San Marcos River during a training run with her team in March 2019. Pam LeBlanc photo

I covered the race last year for the Austin American-Statesman. I saw people in all states of exhaustion, including some sick on the side of the river in the middle of the night. Richardson, though, just a few hours after completing the grueling event, looked like she’d just stepped off a cruise ship.

What the what?

Isabella Hansen tends to her father, West Hansen, at the side of the river on the second day of the 2018 Texas Water Safari. Pam LeBlanc photo

“There’s zero chance you aren’t going to finish,” she told me right off the bat. “When you feel bad, you just need to focus on something pretty. It’s not something you don’t get through. You need to cherish every minute of (the race) because it’s such a unique opportunity to spend that much time on the river and see things most people never get to see.”

Matthieu Meyers, bottom, can’t watch as JT Van Zandt prepares to paddle away without him. The team made it all the way to Hochheim, but after about 28 hours, Meyers wasn’t able to finish the grueling race. Pam LeBlanc photo

Here are 10 pro tips from the Richardson annals of badassery.

1. Food. We talked about what to eat, from liquid nutrition drinks to warm mashed potatoes with cheese. The problem is, you have to gulp everything. Debbie suggested helpful things like pre-crushing potato chips.
2. Super Glue, it’s not just for sticking broken plates back together. Paddlers take it on the river to glue shut open cuts and wounds. They also use it to glue on fingernails and toenails that get ripped off during the race.
3. Diaper ointment or products like Boudreaux Butt Paste are necessary to prevent chafing under your bra line, at the top of your pants, in your private areas and, well, just about everywhere.
   

   Paddlers Mike Buck, Kent Fish and Mark Huteson round a bend at Cottonseed Rapids on the first day of the Texas Water Safari. The race begins at the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment in San Marcos. Pam LeBlanc photo

4. Your butt will get sore from sitting for two to four days straight. Your boat seat will have padding from the start, but cut an extra seat-shaped piece from an old yoga mat and add for the second half of the race.
5. The last stretch of the race involves crossing a section of the bay and ship channel. Depending on conditions, it could be just plain horrible, or over-the-top, get-tossed-out-of-your-canoe-and-pull-it-by-your-teeth-through-sea-water horrible. Gird your loins. It will be HORRIBLE!
6. The start involves more than 100 boats crammed onto Spring Lake. When the race begins, all those boats will be charging at once, and some will go sideways and you will likely get run over and possibly maimed. Gird your loins. It will be HORRIBLE!
7. You will hurt. You will feel sick. You will simultaneously hate and love your teammates. You will want to quit. Do not quit. The bad times will pass. If you feel HORRIBLE, pause, eat something, brush your teeth, pee, if you absolutely must take a nap, and go on. You will feel fabulous.
8. You will see alligators. And giant alligator gar. And snakes. And spiders. And mosquitos. And hordes of mayflies. And gnats. And poison ivy. And probably flying cockroaches as big as your head. Do not be alarmed.
9. You will encounter HORRIBLE portages and will have to drag your boat for hundreds of feet across fallen logs and mud and soul-sucking swamplands. Do not be alarmed. Did we mention it will be HORRIBLE?
10. NOTHING will feel as fabulous as it does to cross that finish line in Seadrift. Never forget that.

The Cowboys team wrangles their boat over rapids on day one of the 2018 Texas Water Safari. Pam Leblanc photo