Kitesurfing

In my last post I described falling last Monday, which I initially considered to be a minor setback.  I ran three miles on Wednesday, and on Thursday and Friday I walked on the beach without noticing anything wrong other than the surface abrasion on my knee.  We had already decided not to run the race on Saturday morning, mostly because a third of the course was on sidewalks similar to the one I had fallen on.  Returning from the store on Saturday afternoon, however, and carrying a rather heavy bag of groceries up the steps to the condo, I felt a sharp pain and almost stumbled and fell again.  While the surface injury was healing nicely, the bruised muscles in my hip were still not back to normal. 

Fortunately I was much improved by Sunday and even more so by Monday, when I consulted a chiropractor.  He was an athletic type, a former runner, and we connected immediately.  He was able to nudge my aging bones back into alignment and offer some good recovery advice, and so this morning I was able to walk/run two miles.  I have been here before – recovering from one injury or another – and I know it just takes time and patience, my only goal now to be able to return to the six- and seven-mile runs of last month, and more than that if I can.  If today’s outing was any indication, I am heading in the right direction.

Meanwhile, the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets continue unabated, despite the minor stumbles, the aches and pains and setbacks of mere mortals like ourselves.

Friday, we walked to the pier and back on a windy and blustery afternoon, and this young man was out on the ocean exuberantly kitesurfing and thoroughly enjoying himself.  I posted the video on Facebook, and Martha was quick to add the comment, “Contrary to what you might be thinking, this is NOT Richard Betz!”  My sister had already commented, “I was wondering . . . LOL!”  LOL indeed!  The man who trips on cracks in a sidewalk would never attempt such an athletic feat.

We have both been reading more than we do in Highlands, although Martha always seems to be completing books twice as fast as I, and I have been working on some poetry and a new piece of music for the keyboard.  We have been working the crossword puzzles in The New Yorker regularly, too, and now we have discovered a new daily word game called Wordle, which is being played by millions of people around the world, including many of our Facebook friends.  It is somehow very satisfying to work the puzzle out each morning and share the number of steps it took to complete with other friends.  It took six steps for me this morning, my worst performance to date.

And so it goes.  The tides rise and fall, the wind swings around from north to south, the moon waxes and wanes – the joy of living out here on the edge of a continent where the elemental forces of nature are so immense and beautiful, and where we are mere kitesurfers on the surface of it all.