Birthday Reflections

Last year I spent my birthday alone.  I really do not recommend that.  It was not bad.  I did have to fly home on an airplane which was disappointed.  It was something that I did not want to share that day with work.  

Since this year my birthday landed on a Sunday, a month out I realized there was an open water swim on that day! Lucky me.  The only catch was they wanted all swimmers to do a 'check-out' swim.  Due to my schedule I was not able to make it.  The event organizer emailed me back after I told him my swimming history.  

My birthday involved -

Getting up at 5pm,

Driving over an hour,

Getting sharpie numbers on my hands,

Getting my cool yellow cap

Squeezing into my wet suit,

Jumping in cold water,

Swimming 2 miles, (apparently there were bat rays underneath us.. I missed them.)

-I met my goal time and placed second in my age group (29 and under)

Yes I'm bragging here is my bling! 

Wandering around the beach area with my wetsuit and a t-shirt on,

Watching the awards ceremony, 

Getting my medal!

Meeting a good friend from college

Walking 2 miles back to my car,

Changing into real clothes,

Eating a delicious lunch,

Enjoying good conversation,

Starting the drive home,

Stopping for Pinkberry, (no birthday cake because I had a work trip)

Driving home,

Napping, 

Skyping with my family, 

Opening up their presents!

It may seem weird that I didn't have a party.  I really liked the way I celebrated.  I could not have asked for a better birthday. I feel really fortunate that I got to do something I love. 

Santa to the SEA! (5k)

I was actually in town for a little bit of December before I got to go see snow. 

One of the very cool things I did was the Santa to the Sea 5k race. Maybe next year I will train for the Santa to the Sea 1/2 marathon. I got really lucky and one my age group with a time of 23:20! It's new PR for me. I think I had the home turf advantage because the race route was very close to the 10K I ran on the 4th of July this year. I also blame the cold. As much as I hate working out when it's cold outside I think it was to my benefit.

This race was also cool because they wanted you to give a donation to Toys for Tots. And they had a contest for costumes. Seeing Santa run is quite a sight!

I got a sweet hoodie for winning. Every finished received a medal. I highly recommend this race to anyone it is a pretty course right along the ocean. 

At the finish line, I got to try out some delicious snacks. My favorite were the new Jamba Juice coconut water and fruit drinks. I had a bad experience with pulpy coconut water but I highly recommend this as post workout recovery drink.

SUP

Otherwise known as Stand-UP Paddle. 

I just tried it a couple of weeks ago thanks to a few friends. I had a chip on my shoulder about it because SUP guys get in the way while surfing. They have this huge big scary paddle and a giant board. Needless to say I did not want to be a SUPper.. Maybe they should be shark SUPper. So my first time I paddled around a shallow area with no waves. 

The next time out, I thought about catching waves but I just started paddling to get pretty far from the beach. All of a sudden I was near boats! Another SUPper actually paddled over because he was worried I was out there alone. Frankly I thought it was awesome and it wasn't until he said something I started getting scared about being alone out there. All in all, I got some great pictures. 

  Yes, I was in Hawaii. 

 My home away from home.

 See I was by boats!

Run Run as fast as I can

Finally I'm seeing some results.. running results or maybe I'm not as bad as I thought I was a running.

First I placed third in a work 5K. Third in my age group- really? I definitely did not think I would place.

Second, I found running trails I like. I love running on the road. Having suffered from shin splints the road seems to be the softest surface to run on. And running along the PCH is priceless. I have turned off the i-gadget and just listen to the waves hit the shore. Or running while on travel. I had a great run in San Diego.

Another hint I picked up from the 'pros' after a triathlon or hard run get into cold water. It is so uncomfortable but the result is my legs feel ten times better the next day. 

I just ran a 10K on July 4th. I finished 2nd in my age group! I ran it in 50:42. That's an 8:11 minute mile pace. I had to stop for a fire truck and I slowed down at the water stops. I might have done better had I not been so hot.  Compared to where I was over a year ago, 10K at Wildflower was 9:03 minute mile that's some progress. I am definitely still learning about running, my feet went numb, too. Anyone know the cause of that?

Especially considering how much I despise running I am getting there. Who knows maybe I will do a marathon in the future.

Olympic Triathlon #3

Something braggy

After countless hours of training my goal was to get under 3 hours on my Olympic distance triathlon. Lucky me I had home turf advantage because the swim was in Ventura harbor, the bike was on my way to work and so was the run. Granted I never actually road the bike or ran the run course. It was a pretty sweet course though because there is no way I would have been able to run the run course with out getting in the way of traffic. It was really an beautiful course. AND I got under 3 hours! By quite a bit.. now I have expectations to live up to. I got a snazzy beer glass for placing 3rd in my age group! :)

Clock Time	2:43:41
Gender Place	38 / 121
Division Place	3 / 6
All Place	191
Swim Lap 1	9:36
Swim Lap 2	9:51
T1	3:21
Bike	1:24:44
T2	2:41
Run	53:31

The Addiction

Well Surfing Magazine didn't take it so I'm posting it. This was my short story for the mag. The winners got a surf trip!

The alarm buzzes. It’s five thirty in the morning. She stumbles into the bathroom, turns on the light splashes water on face; turns to the black string thing hanging on the towel bar and slowly puts it on. Even though there is effort in every movement from what looks like sore muscles, it doesn’t matter. Silently grabbing the huge fuzzy thing used for drying, throw on an over-sized t-shirt, flip flops, grab a smelly substance that looks like soap and takes it out to the car. Oh, and then there is that black and grey item when put on it looks skin tight, it smells like the sea even after rinsing in the shower.  It’s not however the smells that motivates for one more fix. Walking back in the house she grabs a large white board. It has sticky stuff on top of it- carrying that same weird odor as the ‘soap’ and a single pointy thing on the back, along with what looks like a tail. It’s handled gently and slowly placed in the car with a fuzzy thing around it. The car starts and the drive begins. Any observer can tell the need for a fix is getting stronger. The internet thing had shown something good. She had smiled really big last night after looking at it. The anticipation was starting to fill the car the closer the freeway exit got. Peering out the window the internet was right. The big blue had beautiful curls according to her and I quote, “They look priceless and perfect.”  Speeding to park, the towel and the gray black thing emerge. She had gracefully force on the suit.  Finally, the suit is on and the huge white thing is out of the car after some of that smelly white substance is rubbed all over it. Looking like a penguin with a big white fish, she runs across the street and has to hop down over the rocks to meet the water that churns. Then she waits a minute stretching and the white things tail latches to one ankle. All this is very Weird if you ask me! I would rather have slept-in but she asked/begged me to come with a camera.  All of a sudden the white board is under the black and grey suit and her arms are paddling. She gets so close to the curling water and disappears for a minute. She is the only one out but there will be more soon. From the beach she does a 180 degree turn and all of a sudden she is stuck in a curl of water moving faster and in the end it looks like it eats her. I later ask her what that feels like. I can’t see it but she’s told me the feeling with every ride is the fix. I can see it her ride but I don’t understand. She says when she is inside there is finally relief. The world feels right. There is no pain. There is no suffering. There is just this moment, moving on the water, feeling totally out of control but totally at peace. There will never be another love quite like the one she has with this.  She pops back up looking almost drowned on the outside starts paddling and does it again. There are many more times like this. I snap a few pictures every time she stands. It’s hard to get photos. The water keeps moving and she keeps moving. Eventually, more blue, black and grey bodies join her. They all sit and wait with eyes transfixed on the horizon.  There is almost no verbal communication but they all can tell when a good one is coming. They all start to rotate and some make it and some don’t.  It’s almost like a dance only this dance is an addiction.  What seems like hours later, the water starts to have less curls.  She slowly stands on the white thing again until she reaches shore. She pulls the white board’s tail off.  You can see the huge smile on her face. She has found her fix for today.  I look at her and I can see she is as happy as she will ever be.  When it gets down to the basics it’s pretty amazing that is what makes her happy and I don’t even know how to swim. She sees that I don’t understand and I doubt that I ever will.  She simply smiles and says, “You are either jealous or confused. You should be neither. I hope you find something that makes you this happy. If you don’t perhaps you can see why a little foam, fiber glass, some plastic, rubber, fabric, and water with mother nature’s help can be all I need in life to make me happy. Next time you are going to go surfing with me.” That sentence sounds like she is offering me a gateway drug. I want to kindly decline her right now but I just decide to pray that mother nature won’t make pretty curls in the water when she tries to share her addiction. The craziest part in all this is she is right. I haven’t found what makes me happy but I don’t want to become another ‘surfing’ addict.  

Progress

Today I ran six and a half miles up and down the PHC. It is in preparation for a triathlon next weekend so it didn't just spontaneously decide to run that far. Talk about wow. Sometimes, I need to step back and take a look at how amazing my life is. I was running right by the ocean. I have dreamed about doing that since I was 19! 

I also recall back at Thanksgiving. I had not worked out in a while. I had gone up to the same location in hopes of surfing after running. I think I ran about one mile before I had to stop and take a breather. Having been a competitive athlete most of my life, I was pretty frustrated I had gotten to that point. 

Now a not even six months later, I got 6.5 miles in and I felt like I could have ran more. Minus the fact that my feet were feeling tingly. I'm going to have to do some research on it. Since I am not nor never see myself being a natural born runner.  

One final note, since I was near the surf, I looked at I wished I could have gone out but I knew I wouldn't catch anything. I can now recognize the tides and what is "rideable." Perhaps this is more reflection but it feels good to know I have achieved something.

One Great Weekend

Like the title says I just wanted to share how great my weekend was. The surf was fantastic! The experts say surfing has a steep learning curve. I agree that my first few sessions didn't go spectacular and much fewer waves were caught than I wanted. 

Finally, this weekend it all started to click! I will never be a Kelly Slater but I think I will have more fun than he does. Part of my struggle may be due to the size of my board. My one requirement for my board is it fits in my compact car so that limits its length. I could bore you with details on the science of surf but I will move on. The waves were finally big enough to turn my board into a wave catching machine! 

To top it all of there was an amazing sunset tonight. I can not do the scene justice with words. But there is nothing quite like being one of about a dozen people surfing while the sun sets. The beautiful colors of the sky reflect off the glassy water. It seems like everything lights up. It is better than any Christmas morning. When I'm out there on the water, I think about nothing else but the moment I am in. I feel so incredibly lucky to have been surfing today. It's so cliche but so true sometimes the greatest beauty and escape is right in your backyard.

Sand Castle

Today a friend and I built a sand castle!

I have to admit I never really built one. Usually my dad and I focused on making a really cool wall and moat. I am always more interested in spending time in the ocean.  I think it turned out really cool but he had what seemed like a billion more really creative ideas to make it cooler. Pretty advanced architecture to have an outer wall and archways.

It reminded me that sometimes we spend so much time building something but it can easily come crashing down. We didn't stay to watch it disappear in the waves.  

Nothing in this life is permanent so I have to enjoy it!

Snorkeling with a Sea Turtle

It was Sunday North Shore on Oahu, Hawaii. This spot called Shark's Cove. I captured this footage.  It doesn't do actually swimming with sea turtles justice but it's great to see the memory.

Stoked on Surf!

Early this morning, I went down to the Ventura Harbor early in the morning. It was gray and hazy but the surf was amazing to watch.  I really wish I could have been out there. Maybe this time next year I'll be surfing waves like that. It's going to be my lofty goal for now. :)

Now for some pictures! It's so much better live.

I filtered this one. I guess that was obvious.

Triathlon #2

I finished my second triathlon.

 This one seems like less of an accomplishment than the last one. It was sprint distance -- 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 10K run. Swim and bike went well but my run and transitions were slow. It looks like I need to go train on the track more, even though I don't like it.

Before the swim

I saw dolphins before the swim which always makes me happy.

  On the bike

The results- 1:13:12 (hr:min:sec)

 I finished 3th in my age group!

I hope I get to do this triathlon, again. It is exciting that I got to do another triathlon close to where I live.  The best part was my parents came to watch. Now I have plenty of sudo embarrassing pictures of me racing.

Bottom line triathlons are addicting and it's great to hear your parents cheer you on.