Wow! When trying to come up with a title for today's post, I couldn't come up with anything. I almost used one I had used before, but decided to look at my past posts and found it just in time. So, I was thinking about my past week, and realized that a recurring theme for me has been lack of time. I had someone tell me this week that he didn't know how I found the time to do all the things I did. I found it funny, because I had been thinking the same thing about him recently. It seemed that every time I spoke with him or exchanged emails with him, he was taking a trip or going to an adventure race. He had gone surfing or gone skydiving. He's now training for his first marathon, which takes much more discipline and a more agressive training schedule than a half marathon, which is all I've ever run. And, this was discussion we had while preparing for an intense high mileage (Me 72 and him 100) bicycle ride we did in hilly East Texas. We both did fine, but I wished I had trained a little more (spin class just CAN'T prepare you for 72 miles) and had a different gear set-up on my bike. But, what does this have to do with surfing? Well, I wish I had more time for surfing. I guess I could give up something, but I'm not sure what I would give up. And, sometimes, I need more than time, I need waves at the same time I have time. Does that make sense?
All this leads me to something I wanted to add to my schedule and that is skydiving. I've now completed two tandem jumps. I've attended the four-hour STP (Skydiver Training Program) also, which means that, hypothetically, I could jump alone on my next jump. I'm not sure I will be ready to do that, but it's an option. Several things make me think that "surfing on air," which has multiple meaning to me now, may or may not be something I pursue.
First of all, skydiving requires a major time commitment. It would take 18 jumps to get my certification and I don't want to give up anything to do it. Secondly, I don't want to die. During the STP "ground" school, my instructor "Kritter" told me about all the things that could go wrong. About halfway through the class I thought to myself, "What the heck are you doing Karen?" Then, when looking at the photos of the screwed up chutes, I thought it again. Once I get away from the airport, I think that it would be a fun thing to do, but when I look at the books as well as the stats about how many people die, I have second thoughts. (Statistically, it's really not that many, but still...) Can I react quickly enough for this sport?
I should look up statistics on surfing. I'm pretty certain that surfing would be considered a safer sport. What's interesting is that I read about all the things that could go wrong (i.e. sharks, killer waves, board injuries), and I still don't feel unsafe doing it. I feel like I have more control over my destiny. Waves sucked on Friday, and, even today, while some friends went down, Brian told me not to bother. He said it was rough and quite cool. He thought the water was actually warmer than the air. Brian had a lesson, but he said he wouldn't be out there if it weren't for that. I probably should have gone down anyway, but I changed my mind. After skydiving school and a 72-mile bike ride out of town, I was ready for a rest day. I didn't even run this weekend, which I will pay for Wednesday during my next scheduled run. As for surfing, I will definitely pay for not surfing this weekend the next time I go out and wipe out on my first two waves. AAAARRRRRGGGHHHHH!!! I need more hours in the day, minutes in the hours, seconds in the minutes...
