San Francisco Surfing

I'm a little delayed in my weekly post, but that's because I'm just returning from a fantastic long weekend trip in San Francisco. I signed up a while ago for the San Francisco (half) Marathon. The Wipro San Francisco Marathon is unique in that it divides its full marathon course into two half marathons, which means that it is possible to run either the first or the second half of the marathon route. I ran the second half last year since I was new to running and noticed that the second half was a little flatter than the first. So, this year, it was only natural that I consider running the first half, which includes some steeper hills and a glorious run across the Golden Gate Bridge. Run weekend was this past weekend, but I had already made up my mind that if I made it to the northern California coast again, I would surf.

A "Texas Surfer" with an amazing
California surfer named Candace

The week before heading to San Fran, I put in some calls to some local surf shops that popped up when I googled "surfing San Francisco." None of them answered right away and only one returned my call the same day. University of Surfing (ironic since I work at a university) called me back within four hours. A young surfer named Candace called to see what kind of lesson I was seeking. I explained that I had been surfing about three years, but that I still needed a lot of practice. Candace said it was no problem and that she would be glad to meet me on Friday afternoon, right after I arrived in San Fran, for a surf session. (Incidentally, I eventually heard from two of the other surf shops I called; but it was several days later.) I questioned her about wetsuits, and she said she would provide one; however, I insisted that I wanted to bring my own. She said I would need either a 4-3 or a 5-4. I opted for my 5-4, and I'm sure glad I did.

On Friday morning, she called my phone and told me to meet her at Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica, Calif., which is a suburb of San Fran. So, as soon as my plane landed, I made my way to San Fran to check into my hotel, and to plot my travel to Pacifica. I was able to take the BART and then a taxi straight to the beach. It was quite cool, and I was having second thoughts about getting in the water just as Candace arrived. I hesitantly put on my wetsuit, walked with Candace down the beach to her co-worker's house, picked up a couple of boards and headed back to the beach near where we parked. Several surfers were out. The sets were small, but pretty...prettier than I've seen in a few months. Candace directed me to the part of the beach I would surf, and I picked up my board and paddled out. Candace had asked me what I wanted to work on, and I told her that I wanted to concentrate on knowing when to start paddling and also on turning. We had a brief discussion and when we made our way out into the water. Candace paddled close to me and gave me some tips on when to start paddling. One piece of advice she gave me was to keep my feet together when paddling out. I hadn't thought about it much, but Candace claimed by keeping them together it would help my core strength. I'm not sure I can explain why, but it made sense to me, and it's something I'm going to think about every time I go out. I started catching waves right away. I missed quite a few too. Candace explained that the waves weren't very strong, so they might be a little hard to catch, but because I'm used to weak waves in Galveston, I'm not sure I missed any more than I would have at my home break. I had at least two outstanding rides, partially from some of Candace's advice about how to turn. All in all, it was a blast. And, it wasn't very cold once I was in the water. But when it was time to get out of that wetsuit to go back to the hotel, I WAS FREEZING. Fortunately, Candace offered to drive me to my BART station, so I didn't need to call a cab.  I wish the waves had been a little bigger, but, all in all, I had a blast! And, not only did I get the opportunity to run across the Golden Gate Bridge during my run, but I also got to surf in northern California! (Oh, and I got to see two of my surfing chicas from Chica Brava while in San Fran!!)Who knows? Maybe I'll surf again next year when I go back to run in San Fran again. In fact, I'm pretty sure I will.