I throw my hands up in the air sometimes (saying AYO, baby let's go)

We (by "we" I mean me, my dad, and my sister) finally got to go surfing this past weekend! I thought it wasn't going to happen again since it was pouring down rain that morning, but luckily it cleared up. I thought surfing would be a cool experience to have, but I had no idea how much I would really love it.

We started out getting all the necessary paperwork signed. You know, all the stuff that says I won't sue anyone if I die (well, I guess I really wouldn't be suing anyone then) or get mauled by a runaway surfboard or shark or something. Then we had to put on rashguards. Now, I'll admit I had a momentary wave of panic thinking that they would not have a shirt big enough to fit me. That ended up being an idiotic concern because I actually ended up wearing a small! That was enough to make my day right there of course. So we went down to the beach then and had a little practice session right there in the sand learning all the terminology and whatnot. Let me say, it looks pretty stupid paddling through sand.

Then we learned the position we would be staying in the majority of the lesson while waiting for waves, which is pictured below:

And then finally we went out to the water! Now we were lucky enough to have one-on-one instruction, so each of us had our own personal wave spotter. That was good because I had no clue how to tell if I should try for a wave or not. Paddling out beyond the breakers was a pretty good workout, and since I'm a dork, I couldn't help but wonder how many calories I was burning. We waited a little while until an appropriate wave came along, and the my instructor pushed me out into the wave and yelled, "Pop up!" when I was supposed to stand up. And just like magic, on that first wave I stood up with the grace of a professional surfer and rode the wave all the way into shore. Haha, yeah right! I pretty much managed to get into a halfway crouch on the first wave and then wiped out. That was to be expected though. You know how a lot of weight loss support groups like to say, "Fall down 7 times, get up 8!"? That was literally how it was for me surfing. I would say for a solid 45 minutes I managed to get into a crouch and then would promptly crash into the water, and then get back on the board and try again. I was having a great time though. It was cracking me up because my instructor would try to give me pointers after each try, things like, "You need to try to move your feet perpendicular to the board" or "Move your feet a couple inches forward." I would nod in agreement with him, but inside I was thinking," Dude, I''m just trying to stand up on this board! I have no idea where my feet are ending up!" Here's what I looked like in the first half of the lesson:

And then came the awesome moment when I actually did manage to stand up and catch a wave. It was such a rush, and I immediately wanted to do it again and again. I was hooked at that point. It didn't matter that I was so wobbly and bent over that I probably looked like a drunken old geezer surfing. It just mattered that I felt like I looked strong and amazing. And I was told after the fact that every single time I managed to stand up, I would throw my hands up in the air instead of out to the side for balance like a normal person. I had no awareness that I was even doing that. I was totally in the moment and loving it. I just like to think I was acting out that Taio Cruz song "Dynamite." I mean, hey, the lyrics are appropriate here:

 I throw my hands up in the air sometimes,
Saying AYO! Gotta let go!
I wanna celebrate and live my life,
Saying AYO! Baby, let’s go!

On a side note, what does "ayo" mean anyway? I was so happy my mom managed to get a picture of me upright! She did a great job taking pictures! It was pretty tough to get action shots because she had no idea when we were going to try to catch a wave.

My dad managed to catch a few waves by "knee boarding," which actually looked kind of cool.

 My sister did pretty well getting into a half crouch on waves, and I think if we had had a little more time she could have stood up on the board. I'm sad we didn't get a good action shot of her. But it is cool that my mom got a shot of all three of us on a wave!

So after I caught that first wave and got a feel for it, I did a pretty good job managing to stand up on the majority of the rest of the waves I tried. By the end, I could actually try to implement some of the corrections the instructor was giving me. I also unfortunately learned firsthand why it is so important to keep the surfboard to the side of you and not in front of you. That board will beat you up!

I felt kind of cool afterwards because my dad and his instructor were taking a break on the beach and saw me catch a really good wave. His instructor commented to my dad how determined I looked, that my face said that I was going to catch that wave no matter what. I think that meant my face finally looked how I imagined it looked when I was working out hard. You know, when I thought I looked determined and fierce but really just looked constipated.

At the end of the lesson, I still had tons of energy even after 2 hours. I felt like I could keep going forever. That's why I think I would really enjoy trying to surf some more as a hobby. I know for a fact that it was great workout because of how sore I was the next day, but it just felt like tons of fun!  That's a sign of a truly great workout. All in all, it was an amazing day. It was a fantastic way to start off year number 29!