Thursday night surf, but no good weekend waves

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.

More time needed

Wow! When trying to come up with a title for today's post, I couldn't come up with anything. I almost used one I had used before, but decided to look at my past posts and found it just in time. So, I was thinking about my past week, and realized that a recurring theme for me has been lack of time. I had someone tell me this week that he didn't know how I found the time to do all the things I did. I found it funny, because I had been thinking the same thing about him recently. It seemed that every time I spoke with him or exchanged emails with him, he was taking a trip or going to an adventure race. He had gone surfing or gone skydiving. He's now training for his first marathon, which takes much more discipline and a more agressive training schedule than a half marathon, which is all I've ever run. And, this was discussion we had while preparing for an intense high mileage (Me 72 and him 100) bicycle ride we did in hilly East Texas. We both did fine, but I wished I had trained a little more (spin class just CAN'T prepare you for 72 miles) and had a different gear set-up on my bike. But, what does this have to do with surfing? Well, I wish I had more time for surfing. I guess I could give up something, but I'm not sure what I would give up. And, sometimes, I need more than time, I need waves at the same time I have time. Does that make sense?

All this leads me to something I wanted to add to my schedule and that is skydiving. I've now completed two tandem jumps. I've attended the four-hour STP (Skydiver Training Program) also, which means that, hypothetically, I could jump alone on my next jump. I'm not sure I will be ready to do that, but it's an option. Several things make me think that "surfing on air," which has multiple meaning to me now, may or may not be something I pursue.

First of all, skydiving requires a major time commitment. It would take 18 jumps to get my certification and I don't want to give up anything to do it. Secondly, I don't want to die. During the STP "ground" school, my instructor "Kritter" told me about all the things that could go wrong. About halfway through the class I thought to myself, "What the heck are you doing Karen?" Then, when looking at the photos of the screwed up chutes, I thought it again. Once I get away from the airport, I think that it would be a fun thing to do, but when I look at the books as well as the stats about how many people die, I have second thoughts. (Statistically, it's really not that many, but still...)  Can I react quickly enough for this sport?

I should look up statistics on surfing. I'm pretty certain that surfing would be considered a safer sport. What's interesting is that I read about all the things that could go wrong (i.e. sharks, killer waves, board injuries), and I still don't feel unsafe doing it. I feel like I have more control over my destiny. Waves sucked on Friday, and, even today, while some friends went down, Brian told me not to bother. He said it was rough and quite cool. He thought the water was actually warmer than the air. Brian had a lesson, but he said he wouldn't be out there if it weren't for that. I probably should have gone down anyway, but I changed my mind. After skydiving school and a 72-mile bike ride out of town, I was ready for a rest day. I didn't even run this weekend, which I will pay for Wednesday during my next scheduled run. As for surfing, I will definitely pay for not surfing this weekend the next time I go out and wipe out on my first two waves. AAAARRRRRGGGHHHHH!!! I need more hours in the day, minutes in the hours, seconds in the minutes...

Even more chop to surf

I didn't get to surf on Friday and, of course, heard the waves finally built to a reasonable surfing size and offered fun to those who made it down. So, I was determined to make it down and least one day this weekend. I chose Sunday since it was the only free time I had this week. Saturday was a busy one for me and included an 8-mile run, 13-mile bike ride and five hours of babysitting my 10-year-old nephew. (I had the chance to find out if I was smarter than a fifth-grader when I helped him with his homework. It was tough!)

This morning I made it down to Galveston at about 7:30 a.m., parked and walked over to Brian, Neil and Bob. They were discussing the waves. It was windy today, with winds approximately 20 mph out of the southwest. The water was a choppy mess. I realized that I had parked a little out of my designated zone, so I thought I would move it. However, I quickly realized that the car wouldn't start. The battery was dead, which required Brian to go home, get his jumper cables, drive back and then jump the battery.  We got the car going, so I moved it to the proper place. I also decided to surf for a couple of hours, jump the car and then drive to the closest dry goods store for a new battery.

The waves were a mess! Paddling out was a struggle because the waves were beating in so strong. Taking the rip current provided a little comfort, but timing had to be perfect to find the right spot. Even good timing, though, couldn't always get you to the outside. Sometimes, I was pushed back toward the shore at the end of the jetty. And, although, you could catch a wave occasionally on the inside, to get any long rides, you at to be ever so slightly on the outside. All in all, I had some fantastic rides. Neil and Bob did too. One wave would pick me up, while a second wave would carry me in. I also had some serious wipeouts, which is never fun. I got caught up in a bad one that included wave on top of wave just as I was trying to catch my breath, only to realize that I had sucked in part of the ocean. Not good. However, it didn't last...just long enough to remind me that surfing can be dangerous, and that I need to be more aware.

In other surfing news, I went for another surf in the sky and completed my second skydive. If I sign up for the class, I could go solo on my third jump. I'm not sure I'm ready. We'll see. It won't hurt for me to take a third tandem jump just to see if I want to do it. My friend D, took his first solo, but failed to pull the chute cord. Needless to say, they pulled it for him and he failed test jump #1. Too bad. I hope he doesn't give up!