Surf Operator
Arrifana Beach, Algarve, Portugal
I should be writing about running and how I’ve been putting the miles in (which I have). But despite this, I find myself wanting to write about surfing.
At school in Totnes I had a couple of friends who surfed. I had the hair for it…
Could have been a surfer?
But I never got into surfing. I remember they took me to Bantham Beach once. I can’t even remember if there was a board for me. I just remember being cold, really cold and struggling to get out of a wetsuit. I’ve never particularly liked being cold. All the kids who surfed at school were cool. I didn’t see myself as one of the cool kids, even if some of them were my friends - so surfing wasn’t pursued.
More recently (New Years 24/25). I was reintroduced to surfing. Nearly forty, what a time to start a really hard sport. However, I stood up in the white water and I was so happy. I loved the experience - the ocean, trying to pick your wave, being swept along and getting warm afterwards!
When booking a running holiday for one, I wondered, what else could I do? Since being back in Devon I have loved being by the sea, I loved surfing when I tried it, so why not go somewhere I could do that? The South West of Portugal sounded good, I love a Pastel de nata - perfect!
How is this linked to running? Good point - Could I not talk about the threshold session I did yesterday- 3 x 8 mins off 2 - the importance of this kind of training for your best marathon? Or the 100km in 6 days to build volume since arriving in Portugal? No, let’s talk about surfing…
I took three lessons. Two private and one group. The private lessons were amazing. Lesson one we practically had the beach to ourselves.
Praia de Monte Clérigo - Lesson 1
We warmed up in the sun and then went over my pop up. This lesson and the next were full of information - where to put my feet, push my weight, to look forwards and not down at the board… every time I stood up and fell off there was something new. The waves came hard and fast. I felt like I’d been in a washing machine. It was tiring but I was enjoying it. The second lesson was similar and I started to feel I was letting my kind instructor down. There was so much to think of and I often think of how other people are feeling, so my brain was full!! Heading back out to sea I was trying to tell myself to relax. But then the big waves would be back. This was hard but my spirits were high and I wasn’t giving up.
After the second lesson I was tired and watched a new George Clooney film. George’s character was cool 😎 and he played ‘Sade - Smooth Operator’ in his car. This made me laugh. It was also the inspiration for a later light bulb moment.
As I walked down the hill for my third lesson. I listened to Sade again, I decided that this would be my surfing song…
Rather than worry about what went wrong each time I fell off and start to get weighed down in how hard it was, I would stand up, look out to sea and “Smooth Operator”. It was almost is if the saxophone was playing, cheering me on.
The sun shone, I smiled, I continued to fall off but I thought “I’m learning and this is fun”. This isn’t about being the best surfer it was about enjoying being in the sea.
Wave after wave, rep after rep, I “moved in space with minimum waste” on my last wave of the lesson it all clicked. I felt so comfortable I turned to my instructor still speeding along and gave her a double thumbs up 👍 -It had been a great day
And that’s what running is too; Step by step, all these steps are reps - the more you can relax and enjoy the process the further they will take you.
If you need to pick your head up I would recommend a theme tune…
Is that George Clooney?
There’s sand in Manchester? Isn’t there?
