A charmed life. . .

I think that most of us just go through the motions of our lives the majority of days. We have routines that we run through every day of our lives without thinking. Wake up, have coffee, brush your teeth, get dressed, dress the kids, walk the dog, go to work, whatever may be particular to you.

I've been lucky in that the amount of time I've spent in a "routine" life is pretty minimal. I might grumble about not sleeping in my own bed for more than 2 weeks in a row, but the truth is I like that variability in my life. By nature, I'm a creature of habit, but over the years I've come to need a disruption of my routine in order to still feel alive. Today reminded me of what a great balance of stability and variability I have in my life right now.

At work, I am part of a team. I am a member of a Sportfolio which is essentially a "team around the team." Our Sportfolio team consists of professionals from various disciplines that are required to help a sport team perform optimally. We have a psychologist (Peter), a strength & conditioning coach (Zach), a dietitian (me), an athletic trainer (Vinny), a biomechanist (John) and a team leader (April) who guides us all. Our team is split between the training centers in Colorado Springs and Chula Vista. Periodically, we come together physically for meetings or to work with teams, but it's not very often that we are all geographically together. This week was one of those rare occasions in which we found ourselves converged into the same location for a whole week of meetings. We decided to take advantage of it. . .

A year ago this month, we climbed Pikes Peak with one of the sports we serve. We've done various other activities in the year and a half that we've been together in the name of team-building, so it was only natural that we would use the backdrop of sunny California for a team-building experience while we were all here together. One of our team members, Zach is an avid surfer and suggested we spend the morning bonding out on the ocean. Although the two cold-challenged members of the group cringed ever so slightly at the thought of spending a morning in 62 degree water, April and I decided it would be worth the sacrifice to learn how to surf and to be together as a team. Bright and early this morning, we all met at Mission Beach here in San Diego for our adventure.

We arrived at the beach to coffee, bagels and surfboards. After what Zach described as the quickest brief on how to surf he's ever given, we carried our boards down to the chilly water and waded in. The waves were a good size for learning. I had tried to surf back in Hawaii, but I was never able to actually stand up and ride a wave in. After a couple of hours and lots of coaching by Zach & Vinny, we were all able to at least get our feet on the board as the waves pushed us towards the shore. I could never seem to find my balance and would topple over as soon as I got semi-upright on the board. Finally, I popped up as my board caught a wave and felt like I was actually riding the surf and not just in a transient state of tumbling off my board. It was tiring to continually fight the ocean far enough out to try to catch another wave, but it was fun enough to make me forget how cold I was for a while! To take a break, I paddled out past where the waves were breaking and just sat on the board allowing myself to bob in the rolling waves. Given my love of the water, it was an amazing morning spent in the midst of sensory sources that stir my soul. As you can see in the pic, we all had ear-to-ear grins at the end of our surf experience. In the pic from left to right are Zach, Peter, April, John, Vinny and me.

Unwilling to end our surfing experience, we headed down to Ocean Beach (OB) to the place that serves my favorite fish tacos in all of San Diego- Southbeach Grill! We devoured tacos, beans & rice and chips & salsa before making our way back to the training center. Even with a leisurely ride home via Sunset Cliffs, I made it back to my office in time for a 1:30 pm conference call! On my ride home from work tonight, I couldn't help but feel immensely satisfied with a productive day of work and leisure!

Not sure what the weekend has in store for me, but I fly out to Colorado Springs on Monday and will return on Wednesday evening. Just a little more variability in my routine to keep me on my toes and make me feel alive.