Busy Time of Year

Where has the time gone? It's now been about three weeks since I've been out surfing. When there were waves, I couldn't surf. And, when there was surf, I couldn't surf because of a busy schedule. This weekend, weather forecasts indicated that it would be a wet, miserable weekend. The rain came, but so did a few waves. However, this weekend also happened to be one of the busiest weekends of the year for my work at the university. This was Commencement weekend, which includes a Commencement Kick-Off event on Friday and Commencement itself today (Sunday).  I could have possibly surfed on Saturday, except, it, too, was filled with several other events including running, cycling, personal commitments and a holiday party. Although I didn't get to surf, I still had an uplifting weekend. Commencement is fun. People are happy, and, students who are graduating have finally finished years of hard work and have met their educational goals. My coworker happened to be one of the graduates today. She has a family, worked full time, survived devastating damage from a hurricane and still managed to graduate with her master's degree. I am inspired by her! I hope to take that inspiration into the surf with me. I can do it! I just hope I get to surf soon.

Holiday Parties, Scheduled Events and Unpredictable December Weather

December!! Seems like I was just putting away all the holiday decorations last week and it's time already to pull the decorations out again. Of course, I don't decorate much, so decorations are basically just a tree. I haven't done it this year yet, but I need to do it soon. I also need to start writing and addressing my holiday cards. Getting everything done this time of year is difficult. Add to it that I've just bought a new home and all that entails. I'll be lucky to get any of it done, let alone find time to go surfing. Fortunately, waves have been dismal lately. I shouldn't say fortunately, really, because I probably would squeeze in a little surf time if only there were waves. My friends went surfing Monday, but the waves were described as mediocre. And, it doesn't really matter how good the waves are during the work week. Taking time off in December is almost impossible with all the events at work taking place. I have to rely on Friday afternoons (actually, Friday morning this week since I have an event Friday afternoon) and Sundays to surf. I also have to rely on the wave "gods" to create waves for me during these times.

The last instruction from the
adventure race director at the race
was quite funny!

The surf "Dude" said that the waves weren't too bad yesterday (Saturday). They were small, but surfable. I would have even considered making my way to G-town even though I usually cycle on Saturdays if I hadn't promised a friend I would be his partner in crime in an adventure race in Goodrich, TX. Like most adventure races, this one included trail running, mountain biking and kayaking/paddling. Unlike some of the other races, this one did not include navigation. It was also a little shorter than some of the adventure races. We were given four hours to complete our race, but fortunately we finished in just three hours. We were hoping for a better time, but although my partner was strong on the mountain bike and I was not, he was not as strong on the trail run and I was. We finished next to last, but had a ball in the process. I definitely will do another one. It was my third race, and I'm busy trying to find a fourth.

Today (Sunday), the surf "dude" Brian called to say that the waves were too weak to bother going to the island to surf. He said that he might take his SUP out, but he wasn't even sure that he would do that.  He added that he would go out surfing if I made the trip down, but with all I had to do, I decided that taking time out to go surfing for just an hour in "iffy" waves, probably wasn't a good way to spend my time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the cold front forecasted to come in tonight might create enough waves so that I can surf one afternoon this week. Of course it will be cold, but I have my 5-4 wetsuit ready to go. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Limited Time Surfing

One of the problems with not living directly on the beach or in Galveston AND holding a full-time job AND being actively involved in three other sports is that time on the beach surfing can be limited. I'm fortunate to have a schedule at work that allows me to work four nine-hour days and one four-hour day to fulfill my week. Because of that schedule, I have the opportunity to surf on Friday afternoons. Unfortunately, the waves aren't always in agreement with my schedule. I was fortunate that there were enough waves to play in this past Friday. November had been extremely flat, but by the end of the work week last week, waves were building. Although they were small most of the time, an occasional thigh- or waist-high wave would come through.

One last Costa Rica shot!

I hadn't been to my home break since returning from Costa Rica a couple of weeks ago. So when I heard there were surf able waves, I headed down after work. Although I thought I would go out at Flagship, I decided that 43rd would be better. The surf dude met me there. We first went out on the east side of the jetty. Because of the way the wind was blowing, I felt like I couldn't get far enough away from it to feel safe. In fact, I pearled on the very first wave I went after simply because I looked up, saw the jetty and freaked out. I decided to go to the west side where I had much more fun. I caught some great little waves and had some fun rides; however, I still had a couple of mishaps that caused me to pearl. I felt like my wetsuit was getting stuck to the wax on my board. I'm not sure that is even possible, but it's exactly how I felt. I also felt like my pop-up was slow. I had a couple of small bruises on the inside of my right knee that definitely suggested that, at least a few times, I was getting on my knee during the pop-up. (Yikes! Not sure why I would be doing that...except that the wetsuit was slowing me down.) I need to work on that.

Sunday is the other day that I usually surf. However, today I had already committed to a run. Not sure why I committed to doing this particular run since I'm already registered for two others during the next seven weeks, but I did. The dude called to say the waves were spectacular, but I needed to do this run. So, I missed out. I'm hoping that next weekend will also include waves. In fact, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will.