It Was a Massacre!

I was driving Saturday morning to Coronado around 9:00am ready to be a spectator and cheerleader for my friends participating in the Chainsaw Massacre in Coronado.  I strained my lower back the weekend before surfing and thought I wasn't up to doing the race like I originally intended.   I also haven't been able to do any SUP training in the past couple of weeks (aside from surfing) so I didn't feel that I would be prepared to compete in the 6.5 miles open ocean race.

The race course was to the point that you see in the background
and then back, through the surf and a run through the blue flags.

But if you truly know me, or have been keeping up with my somewhat inconsistent blog, it's not so easy for me to just sit on the sidelines and watch.  So I did my typical "Liza-move" and hit a u-turn home to pick up my BOGA race board "just in case".  You know how it goes from here...

I got to Coronado, met up with my friends and registered for the race.  I knew it would be grueling but there wasn't much competition in the women's category, so what did I have to lose.  It was a race against the clock.  It was a race against myself.  I really wasn't sure what to expect.

Guess who got 1st place in her division?!  Okay, there were only 5 women in the race and 2 DNFs...  but you know what?,  it was still a great accomplishment to me.  It taught me that with any excuse I could use in the book, I still could finish a race and do well.  It was a tough race.  The chop and wind was crazy as we got closer to the buoy.  I learned that I definitely need more practice out in the open ocean.  I hung in there and didn't fall in once but there is so much I am learning about the ocean through surfing that is helping me with my racing.

I was only supposed to be a cheerleader for my good friends, Kiwi, who won 1st in the SUP stock division and John, who won 3rd in the SUP stock division.  If I'm gonna be a part of this crew, I need to learn not to never be left back waiting on the sand.