Commitments

I had this thought during a swim the other night. I would like paint a picture of effortlessly gliding in the fast lane, but it was closer to slow thrash.  

One cold day back in November I decided it was time to get myself into gear and signed up for a triathlon. With a mild hangover and a ban still in place on travelling to the beach, this seemed like the perfect remedy to getting out of a rut. But soon once the beaches opened up the east coast was looking good, training got gladly moved to the side. This started with some feasibility - surfing is a replacement for 60 lengths in a pool right? Soon I was prioritising 2 hours at Dunbar with a 2-3ft swell over my 50k cycle. 

We’ve all felt the feeling where you're spread too thin. Where you’ve got a mental week of stuff to do and feel like you are simply alive to tick things off the list. No time to chill, no time to relax. 

I think you are not properly a surfer until you patch off a commitment when a decent swell comes in. Swapping seeing a mate for a pint for a dawn session on your own. As me and Ru live in different cities, daily calls often ring out as one of us has prioritised going in the water. 

The thing is, sometimes you need to take a minute to make that emotional decision over the rationale one, not do that thing that someone is expecting you to and just have a bit of fun. There’s something that lockdown taught me and it’s that the longer I stay away from the beach, the more I go a bit mental. 

So writing this, I’m two weeks away now from this triathlon, and this whole ‘it’s sound to prioritise having fun over training’ chat may come back to bite me, but I’m trying to not take shit too seriously and surf as often as possible.