The Achilles saga continues….I’m stoked to tell you about my latest ninja accessory -  the Leg Scooter!  When I saw the brochure for A Leg Up at the doctor’s office for this ingenious device, I immediately contacted the company and sent them an e-mail about Brown Girl Surf TM.  I even went so far as to send them the video of me in the emergency room letting them know about my tendon rupture. (Visuals always help).   I finally asked if they might sponsor a scooter for me. I knew it was a long shot because, well, who the fhuq am I, but I figured I had nothing to lose.  Lo and behold, a woman by the name of Susan e-mailed me back a few days later.  She apparently took a look at the site, loved Brown Girl Surf TM, and in a few days hand delivered me a scooter to use until I can walk again.  How friggin’ cool is that?  I promised them I’d do a little video blog about it in return, which I do weekly anyways. Ask and ye shall receive, ye shall. 

I’m so thrilled because I don’t have to hobble around with those damn crutches up my armpits all the time. In 2 weeks, I went from barely getting around my condo, to scooting to my bathroom, about town, and then in my gym.  Riding in town is the funniest. All the little kids honestly don’t know what to do with themselves.  I mostly get the wide-eyed ‘Mommy, daddy, I want one of those’ stares as they watch me zip by in my ninja roller glory. I actually feel like a perfect cross between a dork and one of those popular kids on the playground with the latest new toy to flaunt.  But whatever, it’s way better than crutches I say.  Now I alternate between the crutches to keep my upper body working and then when I want to give it a break, I hop back onto the knee scooter. Remember: BALANCE.   It’s good ninja training too. 

Even if I’m not out there in the surf, injury and healing are all part of the journey.   Though the scooter gives me a lot more mobility, the one drawback is that it puts a lot of pressure on the knee, and so I’m getting a callous on my right knee.  But my mom ingeniously designed a doughnut out of an old shawl to go over my knee so the knee wouldn’t rub against the seat anymore.  I’m trying to get her to design one out of my old O’Neil surf boots as well – put that neoprene to good use.  More on that later. Thanks mom! 

Today I’m bringing my scooter into the city and a friend of mine is going to take me to visit my long lost love – Ocean Beach! If I can’t get in the water, at least I am now a step closer to the salty sea atmosphere!   Thanks to A Leg Up again for keeping me partially in the game!  I also want to sincerely thank all of my friends and family who in the past weeks selflessly showed up at my door with food, groceries, hugs, rides, good company, sharing and so much support.  Having a strong community makes all the difference and I just can’t thank you enough.  You all are awesome!  The journey continues…

As most of you know, I ruptured my Achilles Tendon on a sprint while cross training at the gym weeks ago.  Can my luck seriously get any better?  Can it?  I have been cross training for about 2 months now to get my body more fit for surfing.  I was almost getting into a sweet rhythm and then POP went the weasel.  Injuries are hard but being athletically prone, this certainly isn't the first one I've had in my life.  Despite being a pain in the ass, injuries can teach us a lot about our bodies, push us to focus on training different things while we are off our sport, or sometimes are just life's way of telling you to slow down. (Sorry, I don't mean this to sound like those lame, self-help blog posts, but you get my drift).  Part of me was so bummed by this injury.  For one thing, I just started on this journey and was beginning to get into a rhythm and really start to set a schedule for my surf and training.  I was even starting to feel a little like a ninja.  Now, not only will I be missing out on San Francisco's crappiest surf seasons, I'll be missing out on San Francisco's crappiest surf seasons.  So whaaaa!  But really, I've had some of my most memorable moments in crappy surf, so never judge a wave until you're in it.  Still, it's hard to feel like you're not missing out on it.  But such is life, and such is the time to deploy plan B tactics. 

Admittedly, though I feel like I have a pretty positive attitude with respect to this injury, I can't help but dread the inevitable -  weakened muscle strength from not walking and increased weight gain. Ugggh!  Going from a weekly schedule of 10 hours of surf, 2 cross training sessions and 2 dance sessions to being mostly sedentary is a real 180.  So part of my journey now is to find my way and learn to train through the injury - plan B.  I do admit I am very lucky in that my rupture was virtually painless, which is so unusual in the world of Achilles Tendon injuries as I'm learning.  So I ain't complainin'.  Last week I re-committed back to my bi-weekly training sessions with my sponsor, Jamz Trainings, and requested to go lower impact.  My trainer, James, has been able to adjust exercises so I can keep my Achilles relatively stable while executing them.   Though it's not the same intensity at which I normally train, my body is healing and I don't want to push it.  So plan B is to focus on more upper body, ab and glut strength in the meantime, and oh yes, brain strength. (But we'll get to that in another post!)   Check out a bit of the regiment below.

Butt Cheek Squeeze: OK, fine.  These aren't called the butt cheek squeezes but that's basically what you are supposed to do in this exercise. (I'm sure there's some other more formal name like Reverse Ab Hike or something catchy like that.)  It's a great exercise for surfers really, especially in developing core strength, lower abs and gluts.  Ever see those surfers who paddle with their chest way up off their board?  Well, they are using those muscle groups to help them do that.  Many who don't have that strength sometimes compensate by using their hamstrings (ever wonder why your hams are so tight after surfing....that's why!  you need more glut and lower ab strength to get that arch....kudos to you if you can isolate your gluts from your hams though...it's tough.) Since I'm pretty much going to be off a board for about 2 months, this is a good interim exercise to keep those muscles still working.  A sand bag type thing was placed under my shin to rest the injured leg. 

Yeah, I'm a little stiff.  You would be too if you had to walk on two poles shoved up your armpits.  I don't even know why I posted that.  Anyways....

Dumbell Chest Fly: Can't walk and wanna train?  Focus on your arms....all part of plan B tactics!  Surfers need developed arm strength for paddling, especially for the currents Northern California sometimes delivers.   Here my arms are moving towards each other in an arc,  while keeping my elbows relatively stable to work the pectoral muscles.  I used 10 lb dumbells for each hand and did about 20 reps.  After doing those I felt like I should have jumped up in my cape and yelled "Mighty Mouse!"....but I didn't, and I can't jump anyways.

Crunches With Weights:  I followed the arm reps with 20 crunches, holding the 10 lb. weights at my chest.  My foot was supported by a ball so it could rest comfortably and not irritate my tendon.  The fact I was sitting on an incline also helped reduce the impact a bit; it allowed me to do a lower impact sit-up but still work the muscles in that area of the body.  These are very good to help offset the daily home cooking of momma Huq (who has been visiting to help me out).   She's helping alright and I certainly am not starving.  I had to ask her to stop bringing home dessert as I can no longer outrun the calories.  And then she gets into cleaning my kitchen and goes on projects to empty out all my drawers and take half my stuff to Goodwill. And I couldn't find my rubber band stash this morning.  I'm like, "Mom, get off my back!"  Opps, wrong post.  Nevermind. 

So that's what plan B looks like for now.  With the help of Jamz Trainings I'm able to stay partly in the game, if even not all the way.  I am so lucky and feel much gratitude for having the support  to do these exercises.  As for brain strength, that is something I'm going to be exploring more, and will for sure share once I figure it out. (Remember, now I have a lot of neuroscientist friends, so I'll be picking their brains.  Ewe!).  I really believe surfing is 80% mental so the brain certainly is a muscle I can continue to exercise while out of the water.  So stay tuned for Part II of Overcoming Injury where I'll reveal juicy brain secrets as well as an exciting new training device to share with you courtesy of a new Brown Girl Surf TM sponsor!  Thanks for reading my weird blog posts friends!  Ta ta!

Well, the BLUEMiND panel at Okeanos (you know, the event plastered all over my Facebook page the past few weeks) was pluckfastically fantastico!  Dancing fish people squirming and worming about the stage, weird scientists dissecting brains, thoughts and memory with their words, and a Brown Girl Surf TM all female crew clad in spider lilies selling T-shirt  to white, male, non-surfers.  Can ya dig it?

Seriously though, yesterday was awesome.  It was also Brown Girl Surf's TM first public debut, so I was especially interested to see just how people would embrace our pioneering journey around the world, name and all.  After catching the attention of passer byers with our bright smiles, aloha spirit and impromptu "you don't have to be brown!" slogan,  people walked up to the table full of intrigue and wonder. (Note: brilliant sales tactic from our lead sales person, Marshea.  Pay attention to my blogs and you WILL get some good entrepreneurial advice now and then.)  Once people  heard about the journey to find trailblazing women and girls around the world, and the context of the name Brown Girl Surf TM, they too were SOLD.  Quite literally. OH YES.  And I have to let you know how STOKED I was when the bartender next to our table (who was a tall, white male) announced he dug the project so much that he had dibs on the Brown Girl Surf TM men's white cotton T.  (OK fine, so he also added to that how much he loved white t-shirts and surfer girls in general, so it was an easy sell to him.  But whatever.  It's all fair game in my book.....and fascinating market research at that).  So to all the naysayers who said men would not wear these.....SOLD!  Nanny nanny boo boo.  Kidding.  But we felt the love and were grateful for the good vibes, exquisite performance, and the great company.

Here's our jolly table....definitely the most colorful one of the night!  Thanks to all my friends and my mom (far right) for helping make this so successful!  I don't have much else of intellectual significance to share at the moment (mostly because  I'm recovering from running around all day yesterday with one leg), but stay tuned for some exciting news about my new mobile device....and by that I don't mean phone.  You'll just have to wait and see. The journey continues.......

It has been about a week now since I ruptured my achilles tendon while doing sprints at the gym.  It's been a real bummer but lucky for me I have the crappiest health insurance plan known to man so everything is just peachy.   Just kidding.  Sorta sucks I'll be down and out for the count for the next 4-6 weeks.  FYI I'm going with non operative treatment of the tendon vs. operative treatment, but more on that later.  So no surfing for me for a bit.  Whaaa!!!!  Oh the humanity!  So much for my adventurous surf stories. 

I know life could be much much worse.  I mean, I could have had my arm chewed off by a shark, or worse yet, been born without any limbs and never had the opportunity to surf or dance.  I know how lucky I am in life and understand things happen for a reason.   So in the true spirit of Bay Area San Franciscan, new age, granola-ness, I am taking this injury as a sign that it's time to focus on other aspects of life, like um, other aspects of  Brown Girl Surf TM!

So the past few days I have been doing some prep for the upcoming Okeanos performance at Fort Mason in San Francisco.  Described by Ariel Schwartz in her article for Fast Company, as the “The Cirque Du Soleil Of Environmental Science“ Okeanos artistically melds science, movement, dance, and acrobatics together to create a theatrical performance of a living ocean.  I know.  How cool is that? Being a dancer myself, I really can't wait to see how they use the human body to recreate the experience of the ocean.  As well, part of this weekend's production is meant to raise awareness around ocean issues. So in addition to the performance, there will be a lot of cool environmental groups on display at the event.  And yes, Brown Girl Surf TM will have a presence there too (so come check out our table).  But it gets cooler yet.   On Sunday I'll be participating on a pre-show panel with my BLUEMiND friends to discuss the relationship between the brain and the ocean.  The theme will be “Our Mind on Ocean, Our Brain on Memory." 

So given this is Brown Girl Surf's TM first public debut, there has been quite a lot of tasks to get done around here.  It's a little challenging to do it with one leg, but I'm getting used to it.  In the spirit of movement and theatrics, I thought I'd share with you this awe inspiring video on Brown Girl Surf's TM behind the scenes one legged prep for this awesome occasion. 

I know what you're thinking-- Target!?!?! OK, fine. I wish I could have chosen a more sustainable store as part of my quest for hangers, especially on a post about the living ocean.  And well, you know how I feel about plastic. But they did scrounge up their extras for me.  Qualified reuse? Please love me, don't judge me (just for the moment....just this once).   Perhaps this is your opportunity to chime in and let me know where I can get more enviro friendly stuff going forward.  Perhaps you couldn't give a crap.  Either way, I hope you laughed. 

So hope you'll join us this weekend for Okeanos and the BLUEMiND panel at Fort Mason at 6:30 pm on Sunday.  Click on the link below for more information and to buy tickets! 

Hope to see you there!  (FYI I got my new rolling scooter this morning.  It's almost as cool as a skateboard.....sort of.)