Since Thursday was surfer dude Brian's birthday, surfergal Robin and I decided to surf on Thursday afternoon and then take Brian and his main "dudette" out for supper. The evening was a blast despite the crappy waves. Of course, at least we had waves! Brian had warned us that the surf was really rough, but we decided to head down anyway. Once there, I understood exactly what he was talking about since high winds and a strong current made conditions difficult to manage. Several surfers were out. In fact, so many surfers descended on the 43rd street pier after Billy's G-townsurf.com's recommendation to surf despite strong currents that we decided to find another place to surf. We hopped in Brian's surfmobile and moved to the 39th street pier. Although a few surfers were already out there too, we chose to stay. I didn't feel like fighting to get to the outside (IT WAS SOOOOOO ROUGH), so I opted for whitewater waves on the inside close to the jetty. I struggled some, but I also had some good, although short, rides and managed to practice turning the board. Robin took a few pictures, and I was happy when I saw them since she caught me in the start of a pop-up. I finally saw that my pop-up was done properly. In the pic, you can clearly see that I have air between my knees and the board!!! I'm not sure I get it right every time, but it was refreshing to see it this time. Unfortunately, I still need to work on where I'm looking. I should be looking out in the direction I want my board to take but, instead, I'm looking down at the board.
I was ready to go surfing again on Friday, but Brian warned that the conditions were as bad, if not worse than Thursday, so I opted not to go down, thinking that I would go to G-town Sunday/today after my race. However, heavy rain and lightening squelched that idea. I'll just have to go next weekend.
On another note, I did get to run my race during a brief reprieve of heavy rain this morning. I decided to participate in the USA 10-mile race this week, and I'm glad I did. I haven't really found proof in writing yet, but I can't help but believe that strengthening my cardiovascular system through running and cycling will boost my surfing and, in particular, my paddling. I meant to look it up on some surfing sites, but haven't yet. But, how could it hurt? I had a great run. I finished in approximately 1:28 with an 8:54 pace (I think...I'm relying on my memory and the results haven't been posted yet, AND I forgot my Garmin this morning.) I believe I placed 13 in my age group out of 32 or 33 other runners in the category. I was pleased. I don't run often, and I haven't run more than seven miles since the end of July, so this 10-miler was nice addition to my weekly running schedule.
