Hanging 37
Man, nothing says you're getting older than using muscles you haven't used in a while. Maybe never. I finally joined the ranks of the true San Diegans this weekend and got on a piece of foam and rode some tasty waves.
Huh?
That's right - I went surfing. Got up at 7 on a sunday...headed out to Terra Mar in Carlsbad and jumped on a 10 foot Bear surfboard. My buddy Mike has been asking me to go for a while and I finally took him up on it. Damn glad I did too. I had a real blast. Even stood up on the second wave! All in all, about a dozen waves in about an hour and a half. The locals were really nice to the newbie and even gave some words of advice when we were out waiting for some more sets. I even had the state of euphoria for a few hours after I got out of the water. It was quite an experience that definitely look forward to doing again.
However...
Oh man, am I SORE! Holy crap I am feeling the tender age that I am. The worst is my left hip. I'm taking about half the stride I normally do because the pain is so friggin bad. I couldn't figure that one out either. I understood the burning in my shoulders, the bruises on my knees and even the slight pain on my sternum but my hip?
Then I thought about it. What was the one thing I was doing the hardest when out in the water? It wasn't the abuse I took from the sets after grabbing the first wave. As soon as I got through one, another slammed me...no...it wasn't the absolute out of shape feeling I had once I finally got outside. That was extremely embarrassing though, lying completely flat on my board, out of breath while these young punks of about 60 would cruise by me...no...not that either.
After retelling the tale to a few coworkers, I figured it out!
See, the board I was on was 10 foot long. TEN FEET! That's from the ground to the top of a basketball rim. Carrying the sucker was hard enough. The thing is, when its in the water and you are laying on it, you don't realize how much board is still behind you. I thought I was sitting on the back of my board. Mike told me to scoot back and I told him I didn't want to slide off. He told me to look behind me and that I still had a football field of board back there. Holy crap he was right!
Anyway, with that much board it is hard to turn to face the beach so you can start paddling to catch the wave. Usually what you do is sit pretty far back on the board, tilt back, let the board basically sit almost vertically in the water and pull the board and twist. Sounds very easy, doesn't it? HA! I laugh at you. Well, it actually is...to everyone in the ocean but ME!
It had to look funny - me struggling, waving my arms in the water, spraying the other surfers and kicking my legs like mad under the water to turn. AHHHH...That's it!! That's why my left hip was killing me. See, I didn't know how to get that board up in the air, turn and twist to the beach. I was doing the bicycle faster than a blood doped Lance Armstrong sprinting through the alps. From the ocean floor, I had to look like those kids treading water, unaware that they were next on the 5 course meal. Jaws laughs at me!
I thought nothing of it in the morning because eventually, I did get turned around, paddled like a madman and let the wave take me in. It was definitely a blast. The rest of the day was spent trying to find a comfortable way to lay down and to try not to walk.
Can't wait to do it all again next week!
Huh?
That's right - I went surfing. Got up at 7 on a sunday...headed out to Terra Mar in Carlsbad and jumped on a 10 foot Bear surfboard. My buddy Mike has been asking me to go for a while and I finally took him up on it. Damn glad I did too. I had a real blast. Even stood up on the second wave! All in all, about a dozen waves in about an hour and a half. The locals were really nice to the newbie and even gave some words of advice when we were out waiting for some more sets. I even had the state of euphoria for a few hours after I got out of the water. It was quite an experience that definitely look forward to doing again.
However...
Oh man, am I SORE! Holy crap I am feeling the tender age that I am. The worst is my left hip. I'm taking about half the stride I normally do because the pain is so friggin bad. I couldn't figure that one out either. I understood the burning in my shoulders, the bruises on my knees and even the slight pain on my sternum but my hip?
Then I thought about it. What was the one thing I was doing the hardest when out in the water? It wasn't the abuse I took from the sets after grabbing the first wave. As soon as I got through one, another slammed me...no...it wasn't the absolute out of shape feeling I had once I finally got outside. That was extremely embarrassing though, lying completely flat on my board, out of breath while these young punks of about 60 would cruise by me...no...not that either.
After retelling the tale to a few coworkers, I figured it out!
See, the board I was on was 10 foot long. TEN FEET! That's from the ground to the top of a basketball rim. Carrying the sucker was hard enough. The thing is, when its in the water and you are laying on it, you don't realize how much board is still behind you. I thought I was sitting on the back of my board. Mike told me to scoot back and I told him I didn't want to slide off. He told me to look behind me and that I still had a football field of board back there. Holy crap he was right!
Anyway, with that much board it is hard to turn to face the beach so you can start paddling to catch the wave. Usually what you do is sit pretty far back on the board, tilt back, let the board basically sit almost vertically in the water and pull the board and twist. Sounds very easy, doesn't it? HA! I laugh at you. Well, it actually is...to everyone in the ocean but ME!
It had to look funny - me struggling, waving my arms in the water, spraying the other surfers and kicking my legs like mad under the water to turn. AHHHH...That's it!! That's why my left hip was killing me. See, I didn't know how to get that board up in the air, turn and twist to the beach. I was doing the bicycle faster than a blood doped Lance Armstrong sprinting through the alps. From the ocean floor, I had to look like those kids treading water, unaware that they were next on the 5 course meal. Jaws laughs at me!
I thought nothing of it in the morning because eventually, I did get turned around, paddled like a madman and let the wave take me in. It was definitely a blast. The rest of the day was spent trying to find a comfortable way to lay down and to try not to walk.
Can't wait to do it all again next week!
posted by gasman at 9:04 PM
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