Broken Promises

I promised myself, both privately and on the blog, that I wouldn't surf more than once a week. And what happened on both Tuesday and Wednesday? I went surfing. Without hesitation. Chomping at the bit and all that.

Tuesday was pretty amazing. "Why is that?" you ask. Well, I'll tell you. Worm told me that Scotty Stopnik told her—as members of the injured knee fraternity of surfers—that when you come back you can't baby your knee. You have to just surf. I hadn't babied the knee so much as I'd been hesitant, forcing myself to only stay out for this long and only take this many waves. Somewhere in the midst of my return to the lineup, Worm passed on Scotty's words. So when I paddled out at Malibu on Tuesday on my Malibu-slaying hull, I went for it. Stellar . . . for me.

The Malibu wave and I have never gotten along. I'm not talking about the crowd and the unpredictable energy of the folks in the water. I'm talking about the wave itself.

A true goofy foot grows a bit tired of going backside, especially on a wave of that caliber. In the past, I've always had to do the "fade left, surf right" (my term) method of getting on the wave. The method never worked well for me. If there's such a thing as going ultra backside, that's what I was contending with when I surfed Malibu. Now, I no longer have to use that method. The Minx, the wonderful board that she is, easily drops into that wave while angling right. It makes all of the sections. It picks up speed at the right spots. For my purposes, it's a Malibu-killing board.

On Tuesday, I took Scotty's words of wisdom (via Worm, who injured her knee last year) to heart. I surfed. I didn't think about pain. I didn't worry about injury. I surfed my heart out, experiencing everything that's right (as in wonderful as opposed to the direction) about that wave. Stellar.

Of course, I was high on life after that session. I paddled out at a different break the following day. Pointless. Cold. Almost flat.

See what greed gets you?

My goal now is to maintain some restraint. My brain tells me I can surf at will. My knee tells me it's not ready for that. Let the internal struggle of good versus evil begin!

Yesterday was my last session with the physical therapist. She's done all she can do. I'm back to doing my normal activities. I still can't walk a mile or stand for longer than about 20 minutes. Those things will come in time as the knee heals. Now that I think of it, I probably can walk a mile. I just prefer not to at this point.

My next and final goal is to ride my mat. I'd originally planned to mat first and then return to the surfboard. At some point I recognized that surfing is easier on the knee than is matting, which is a full body workout where the legs do most of the work. I feel like I'm ready for the mat now. There will be pain after the first mat session, of course. Fins put strain on the knee. Nevertheless, I'm anxious to get back on the magic carpet for some fun.

Pranaglider cracks me up!!