Sloppy cool waves and some warm-up moves

I was hoping for more today. Despite an early report from Surf Dude Brian via Robin that said sets were small but clean, the beach surrounding the 43rd street jetty was a washing machine. A surf friend who has been working on his yoga certification offered to lead a pre-surf yoga session on the beach. So, several of us (including some who weren't planning to surf today) made our way to the beach early to "get our moves on." Since the instructor wasn't there when I first arrived, I decided to surf a few minutes before the yoga session. Some of the guys were out already (Neil and Bob), but from the shore, I wasn't impressed with the waves I was seeing. I watched a few minutes from the seawall before putting on my wetsuit and heading out. (The air temp was warm, but with the water temp at 67 degrees, I felt certain that the water would be too cool for me without my 3-2 wetsuit; therefore, I opted out of the long-sleeved 2m top and/or springsuit for the full suit. I'm glad I did. Although Brian and Robin were in shorties, the water was too chilly for me.) It was an incredibly choppy day, which meant rough paddle-outs and difficulty reading waves. AARGH!

I'm feeling quite discouraged about my surfing lately. I say "lately," but I think if I looked back on my posts, I would find a discouraging note about surfing at least one out of ever five or six of my posts. I guess I should just chalk it up to inexperience, but I SOOOOO want to be a better surfer. Is it possible I'm spreading myself to thin on not focusing enough on one sport? Since taking up running a little less than a year ago, which was added to an already full cycling schedule, I've started to wonder if I'm trying to do too much. (Not to mention, that my house is a mess, which means that maybe I'm spending too much time on frivolous things. MY INNER VOICE SAYS "NO WAY," LIFE WAS MEANT TO BE LIVED, BUT THAT OTHER VOICE SAYS, "WELL, MAYBE...") However, maybe I'm just expecting too much. I've only been surfing about 2 1/2 years, so maybe I'm at the skill level I'm supposed to be at for someone my age. I wish I could turn off the little competitive voice that always nags at me to want more or to do better or to expect perfection. For one thing, I can't be the best at everything and maybe, just maybe, it's okay to be just pretty good. Or, in the case of surfing, maybe it's okay that I will never be real good. In the book, "Born to Run," the author writes about a tribe in Mexico who are outstanding ultra marathoners. And, one of the things he notes (and I'm paraphrasing) is that they run like children...they run just because they can, and they almost always smile while doing it.

Is okay to just do something 'cause you like doing it? The author of the book suggests that is why this tribe is so good at running, because they like doing it so much. But, I know that is an oversimplification. I can like cycling, running and surfing a lot, but that alone won't make me better. However, maybe if I relax and just enjoy the sport, I'll eventually get stronger. And, actually, that happened with cycling. I got much stronger in my fourth and fifth year of participating in group rides, so, perhaps, in four years, I'll be an even better surfer. I just need to enjoy where I'm at right now and know that the skills will develop with a lot more practice!

**The photo is from my recent trip to Costa Rica. I wanted to take a photo of the sun rising this morning, but it was a little overcast early on, with sun eventually peaking through; however, it was too bright to capture the ambiance of early morning yoga.

Robert August, runs and more

During my trip to Costa Rica last week, I had the pleasure of meeting surfing legend Robert August again. I had met him (and his daughter) several years ago at a local surf shop. In summer 2009, I had read in the local newspaper that he would be in town and convinced my surfing sistah Robin to go with me to meet him. At the time, Robin and I had our picture taken with him and met his young daughter who was just learning to surf. We knew that we would probably meet him again in Costa Rica since the surf hotel we were staying in frequently had him give presentations. Our meeting with him, though, came a little sooner when we bumped in to his now teenaged daughter ready to shower the saltwater and sand off of herself. Robin recognized her and spoke to her and, about that time, Robert came over to get his daughter.  We exchanged small talk; mostly Robin and he did since I was showering off, but it is always good to run into a surfing legend when you are at a surf camp.

At one of his presentations, he discussed how to make a board. We (about eight of us staying at the hotel) followed him into his small shop and watched him take the core/blank and use various tools to measure, cut and shave the board to spec. He was making a performance short board/fish hybrid board. I found it interesting to hear about the importance of the lighting in the shop and why he had it set at waist level (so there are not shadows on the board when he works).  He answered questions and discussed the materials he uses, etc. He's now living most of the time in Costa Rica with his kids and his daughter has recently got hooked on surfing. In fact, he says, she goes surfing at the beach by Witch's Rock surf hotel just about every day after school. How much fun that would be!

I've been back in Texas for over a week now, but I'm sad to say that I haven't been surfing yet. I'm anxious to try out my new pop up and other board skills, but either the surf has been crappy or I've had scheduling conflict. I was out of town this weekend. I ran the half marathon distance in the San Antonio Rock 'n Roll Marathon. It was unusually warm for November (lows in the 60s and highs in the upper 70s and low 80s). I generally like warm weather, but I think I got a little dehydrated during this run. I was hoping to set a pr and finish in 1:55, but I didn't. I finished in 2:01. I think I need a little more practice, and I definitely needed to drink more water. All in all, though, it was a fun day. I looked at the gtowsurf.com webcam and, while it looked like there were waves at the 43rd street jetty, they looked messy and sloppy. I probably would have gone down anyway, but who knows? I NEED SOME NICE CLEAN WAVES TO PRACTICE MY POP-UP! But, I guess I'll take what I can get. Maybe next weekend...

Walking on sunshine

I've been lucky enough lately to pick some of my surfing spots! Since starting to surf, I've surfed in Nicaragua; the east coast/Atlantic side of Florida (Amelia Island to be exact); Miami, Florida; and, this week, Tamarindo, Costa Rica. In last week's post, I wrote about five places I would love to surf and my first spot was Costa Rica. My surfing pal Robin planned the trip through a recommendation from a friend of a friend of mine based on a few recommendations from a friend of hers. Pshewww! That's confusing. Anyway, we traveled to a place called Witch's Rock Surf Camp. It's called a camp because lessons are provided, but, basically, it's a small hotel that rents boards and provides surf instruction to those wanting to take lessons. 

Tamarindo is a sleepy coastal town about an hours' drive from Liberia, which is where the airport is located. Costa Rica is a poor country. However, many say traveling in Costa Rica is much safer than many of the other Central American countries because the infrastructure is more stable. I'm not quite sure I believe it, although I didn't see anything   bad that would make me think otherwise. It's just that things are a bit rustic. Tamarindo is definitely a Surfer's paradise though. The beach at Witch's Rock was incredible, with a shore break that consistently provided some sort of wave action, albeit sometimes small depending on the tide. During high tide and, at least once during low tide, the beach filled with surfers of all abilities ready to catch some pretty waves. The surfing was incredible to watch and be a part of. 

Robin signed us up for intermediate lessons, which was probably a little more advanced than what we probably needed. I felt incredibly uneasy the first few days. It had nothing to do with our resort nor the waves. It was a feeling I've only had a few times in my life; something unexplainable, but something to which I needed to respond. Our first lesson were in the waves out front of the hotel. We we're to meet up with Andre at 8:30. He was quite late, and not very apologetic about it. He was also not very informative. I caught quite a bit of whitewater though and, although I got a little banged up by the board when I I was trying to get out (I missed the rip I rely on inG-town). I had a hard time reading the sets.

Day two included a trip to another surf point (will have to look up the name later) with an instructor named Paco. Ross, also from Houston, and Pedro, from Brazil, joined Robin and me. The uneasy feeling from day one returned at a magnified level. It didn't help that the waves at the other beach looked huge from the shore. I hesitated even going out, which is unusual for me. I'm not easily intimidated, at least I don't think that I am, but I couldn't shake the bad feeling I had about being there at that beach on that day. I initially had a hard time getting out, and after several attempts and getting banged up badly by the board, I finally made it to the outside. However, one big wave later and I decided that my surfing there was complete. Too bad! I'm definitely going to return to that beach some day. At least Robin got a good ride! I saw her whiz by on a huge wave (size is relative, but for us, it was huge). 

By day three, I felt better. I awoke to a bright day. Not sure what had happened to my confidence and mental toughness, but I was glad it had returned. In fact, I had felt alive better later in the evening on day two. I even managed to feel the drop during a couple of my evening rides. However, day three would be my day. The camp had decided that Robin and I needed to surf the waves in front of the hotel. (I sure hope that she wasn't relegated to the hotel break because of me.) As it turns out, day three turned out well for both of us. Our surf instructor was Andres. Note: the "s" at the end of the name reassured us that we weren't going to have the same instructor as day one. Thank goodness! Andres was an incredible instructor. He taught me a new way to pop up and a new way to paddle. He mentioned that he had seen me surf and that one of my biggest problems was looking down at the board instead of looking out. He also mentioned that I might want to reconsider the way I pop up. I listened and followed what he said. Robin did the same. I saw her do the most incredible pop up, and both of us took big waves (again, size is relative, but they were big for us).  It was an incredible day, and I hope I can translate what I learned to my home break!

All good things must end. I'm writing this from the airplane on our way home. We were scheduled to surf early this morning, but neither Robin nor I felt that we really had enough time before our shuttle ride back to Liberia. I'm confident that we will be returning to Tamarindo. 

Note: The photo was on the wall of my hotel room in Tamarindo. Witch's Rock hotel was definitely created for sufers!