Surfing was a bust this weekend! I knew that I would be going out of town for the weekend, so I kept my fingers crossed that I would get to catch some waves on Thursday night before I left on Friday. Unfortunately, it was flat! Friday was flat too, so I didn't miss any surf then either. I made an annual pilgrimage to Crowley, La., where I participated in the International Rice Festival 5K Race on Saturday. This is definitely not just a run, but a race. Many of the kids from the local high school cross-country track teams compete. Medals are given to the top three in categories split by age and sex. With my 8:07 a mile pace and a very small field of competitors in my age group, I was able to win the gold medal. It was very exciting, and the medal is definitely something that I will cherish. I won the 40-49 age group last year, but I wouldn't have won in that category this year if I was in it. Another 40-year-old would have beat me by more than a minute. Pshewww...I need to work on increasing my speed for next year.
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What a great way to get a
surfboard to the beach! |
This blog is about surfing though, so my surfing news really has more to do with something I saw during my surfing experience last week. As I said during my last post, last weekend was a fun weekend for surfing. The waves were a little rough, but at least they were surf-able and not only did I take advantage of surf, but so did many other surfers in G-town and beyond. A couple of the locals, though, definitely caught my eye when they showed up at the 43rd street jetty on their bikes. I've seen a couple of others arrive this way before; in fact, one of the ladies I surf with occasionally rides over on her special board-toting bike. At times like this, I envy their proximity to the beach and the special way they've set up their bike to adequately combine two sports. I think it would be fabulous to be able to ride my bike to the beach with a board attached. Maybe one of these days I'll live in one of those dreamy G-town homes. Until then, I'll just be glad I can load my board either on top OR inside my vehicle.
I kept my fingers crossed that the waves that began building on Saturday afternoon would hold up until Sunday afternoon. Well, they did...kind of. The waves were rough and created from strong SSE winds that made the surf quite choppy. I knew that I would be home from my race by early Sunday afternoon and had planned to load the board and head down until I received an email from the surf dude who said not to bother coming down. He said there was "...strong wind, bad current, lots of chop and slop." So, after that, I decided my time would be better spent on the mainland. I was a little sad though. I hate missing a weekend of surfing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for next weekend!
