Out with the old, in with the new

Time flies! Seems like only yesterday, I was writing about a new year of surfing and, yet, here I am again looking forward to future waves. I was trying to tweet some resolutions last night, but struggled. It's not that I don't think I need changing, it's that I realize I have sooooo much to change. That goes for surfing too. After my trip to Costa Rica in November, I wrote about a change I needed to make in my pop-up. I'm still working on incorporating that change into my surfing sessions in Galveston. And, because the waves are so "iffy" this time of year, it's hard to surf enough to make major changes to form and to incorporate them into my surfing. The major move has to do with me bringing my hands nearer to my center of gravity to assist me in pushing up instead of leaving them on the rails lined up with my shoulders. I'm sure this small difference will help tremendously once I practice it enough.

I thought I would have time to practice it this past week, but I was wrong. Since I get the week off between Christmas and New Year's, I try to do as much as I can. Last year, I took a short trip to Louisiana and still managed to make it back in time to surf a couple of times. We had small, but surf-able waves last year. This year was a different story. I didn't take a trip and, although I had big plans for myself that included organizing part of my house, cycling and surfing, I ended up spending time in bed with a stomach virus. I was only sick for a about two-and-a-half days, but it was smack-dab in the middle of the week, which sort of ruined my plans. I didn't really miss much surfing since it was so flat, but I also didn't feel like cleaning or cycling. By Friday, I was much better and managed to get in a 9.3-mile run, and, thankfully, a little surfing. My first surfing report early that morning was that the waves were building, but not quite surf-able. By the time I finished my run at 10:15, my messages included two from different people who said to get to G-town fast 'cause they weren't sure how long the waves would last. I made it down by about 11:15 a.m. They were weak and mushy, but still ride-able. Of course, the joke always is that if only I had been there 30 minutes earlier... Only this time, it was no joke. Apparently the waves had been a little better before I got there. I still managed to get in an hour of surf time, which included about four short rides. The problem with the waves were that they were hard to read. They were closing out fast so that when I finally could catch one, the ride was only about three seconds. Toward the end of the hour, I was definitely having to catch them on the inside close to the jetty and to the shore. And, on top of everything else, the water was cold!! Fortunately the air temperature was not. It doesn't help much, though, when I have to struggle into and out of the 5-4, which is so thick that it makes movement difficult. Sometimes, I even have to ask for help to get out of it when I wear it. On my first paddle out, I got caught trying to move out past the end of the jetty and tumbled over, bumping my chin on the board and hitting my upper thigh on the fin as I tumbled off. I didn't realize it until later that my chin was actually cut and bleeding. It's probably a good thing I didn't know, though, since I would have wanted to stop to doctor it. This way, I just kept surfing until the waves didn't want me in them any longer, which was about an hour and 20 minutes later.

All in all, Friday was a great day even though I wished the waves would have held out a little longer. I ran and I surfed! The gang was out on the beach also including Surf Dude Brian, N, R and my friend S who happened to be in town. (I texted her on my way to Galveston to see if she was around. She was visiting her family.) I even got an afternoon giggle. As I was leaving the beach, I happened to see a person dressed as a panda bear walking on the Seawall. I had my camera and while I was sitting at a red light, I was able to snap a picture. Who couldn't smile if they saw a panda bear walking down the street?