Timing in Life and Surf

Sometimes, especially
as I'm training for my
marathon, I might be safer
riding one of these.

Last Wednesday evening I decided I needed some time in the water. Surf reports weren't bad so I loaded up after work and drove to 36th street and Seawall. The waves were a little bit of a mess, but, after all, it's May in Galveston, Texas. These kind of waves is what is expected this time of year. I made my way down to the rough and tumble surf, went out and caught a wave right away. The session lost its charm after that. I would catch a wave every now and then, but many times I misjudged when the waves were heading my way.  I would either think they were coming through nice and strong, paddle for them and then be disappointed, or I wouldn't think they were going to form and watch fairly nice waves pass me by. I got caught on the inside early on and wiped out 'causing me and the board to separate and the board to pop in the air and land much too close to my foot and leg, and, in fact, hit my foot. Although I felt pain at the time of the accident, it wasn't until I ran 20 miles two days later that I realized I might have done some damage. My foot has been swollen since that time. Timing is bad for me to have a swollen foot since I'm only approximately three weeks from running in my first full marathon.

The foot didn't slow me down though. I cycled on Saturday, surfed again on Sunday, and completed the three-day Memorial Day weekend with a bike ride on Monday. My Sunday surf session might have been slightly more successful than my Wednesday surf session. I caught some waves despite the fact that the waves were a jumbled mess. I ran into a couple of surf buddies who I hadn't seen in awhile, which made the surf session even more fun. I kept noticing my foot though, which would swell up pretty big by evening. I think it is only severely bruised, but I'm certainly going to keep an eye on it.

I have several major things going on around me in life these days. Sometimes I just need to surf or ride or run to work through it. I'm losing a dear friend who is moving to another country. I hope we can continue to be close despite the distance. I've got a lot of change going on right now, so the timing of her move seems wrong for me and yet, seems consistent with an ever-changing world. I hope the timing is right for her!

Exciting weekend!

Surf's up...well kind of. That's the report I received on Friday. It was music to my ears since Memorial Day weekend had been a bust. Rob and I, as well as several of our friends including my surfing buddy Robin, stayed at the Tremont House, which put us much closer to the beach. I shouldn't say it was all bad. We had some surf early on Sunday, and a little on Monday early, but the waves were very small. So, when I heard things were better on Friday, I couldn't wait to head down. I finished work and stopped by the house for Petal. It was definitely the right conditions for Petal, rather than Lil' Sis. Since I can't leave Petal in the car all morning because of the heat, I had to leave her at home. I loaded her up as I usually do, packed my things and headed down. I took my usual course, which means I drove down FM1266 to 517 to Hwy 3 before turning on 2004 to make my way to I45. Just after I turned on to 2004 and built my speed back up to about 50 mph, I heard a loud bump. Just as I was thinking, "Wow, I wonder what that was," I noticed my surf board in the rearview mirror bouncing down the road. This was my custom-made Senator board. I pulled over. A truck was behind me, but it was a little ways back and didn't seem to notice the board, which, thankfully, was lying in the other lane. I u-turned and made my way back to the board. I parked on the shoulder and ran to my board. I pulled it over to the shoulder before running to the lane I had been driving in to retrieve the strap. I felt the board through the bag, but decided I WOULD NOT look at it until I got to the beach. I put down the seats of my car, stuck the board inside, and I drove with a heavy heart the rest of the way.

However, imagine my surprise when I pulled the board out of the bag and I didn't see a scratch! The fin had been razored from dragging on the road, but even that is fixable. Psheww! That was a relief. I just knew it had broken in to three big fiberglass pieces. Brian thinks the board bag saved it. At the time, I almost didn't buy the bag, but I sure am glad that I did.

I had a great day surfing, especially once I realized the board was okay. The waves weren't big, but they were enough to play around on and to practice. And, gosh, do I need practice! Brian, Robin and I eventually moved to 25th/Flagship, but the waves were dying as the day progressed. I didn't make it down on Saturday, but I did on Sunday. I made it down early and got in a couple of good hours surfing before I stopped to help Brian with a lesson. Yep, that's right. Brian asked me to help. I mostly just listened and pushed one of the two men taking the lesson into waves, but I still had fun. I need to study up, though, 'cause there's still a lot more to learn. Brian said he would type up some notes for me. That would be good. I know I'm a long way from being able to give a lesson on my own, but acting as an assistant might just be possible. HOW ABOUT THAT??? A part-time surfing instructor assistant? Who would have ever thought?