Hydroflying

Remember this? It most definitely happened this weekend. And boy was this weekend eventful. Before I get into my hydroflying experience, let's chat about my long marathon training run. Because I don't want to overtrain, I'm working on maintaining fitness currently, without fatiguing any muscles. I'll begin to add some more distance on as we move into fall. For now, my long runs are still at 5-6 miles at race pace.

Thursday Night:

We went to Boheme to celebrate Andy finishing the bar. It was fantastic. And if you haven't been, and you live in Houston, their Sangria and frozen mojitos are way delish. Look for yourself. We spent some good, quality time out on the patio, talking with old friends and meeting new ones. I used the valet because there was no parking- and we all know how fantastic I am at parallel parking (sarcasm- if you don't know, I'm not all that fantastic at parallel parking). When the valet returned my vehicle, it was raining. My hazards were on, along with my parking brake (which I never use- Houston is flat) and my lights weren't how I typically leave them. In addition, one other light was flashing. Okay. Not too big of a deal. I rolled down my window and had Aaron show me how to fix all of the above. Good to go. I was juuuust about to get on the highway, and that little light that was flashing- started flashing faster and making some noises. My hood was open! They had somehow opened my hood when they pushed my parking brake in. Great. It was raining and late. I had to pull off before I got on the highway. Long story short, I am now officially schooled on how to open and close my hood, as well as any other random light or button on my vehicle. These things are important- you can't have your hood flying up when you are trying to drive on the highway.

Friday

Because I had Friday off. I got Sawyer packed, I got myself packed, did some laundry, got my eyebrows done (priorities, people) and went to the grocery store. Then, I met up with Andy, Cody, Kiana and Tatum for a quick lunch at Punk's. Now, I was highly anticipating this meal. I looked up the brunch menu and it looked pretty fab. The food was on point, but the service wasn't as great. The waiter was slow and he forgot to bring a few things to the table. I'd be willing to give them another chance because they are relatively new.

Right after lunch, I started to feel pretty weak. My throat was hurting, my head was hurting and I felt super tired. Great- I was getting sick. I was so excited!!! I was so worried about hydroflying, I thought I'd have a legitimate way out. Just kidding. Kind of. Regardless, I went home, took a nap and still didn't feel much better.

Saturday

Friday night was pretty bad. I kept feeling like I had a fever, and I started wondering if I had possibly jinxed myself. All this worry about hydroflying, and now I might not even be able to go. I knew I had to power through it. Aaron's time off is important. He works so hard each and every day, that I just knew I couldn't be sick for this occasion. So, I got up Saturday morning at 7, had my coffee, ate a banana, and took some meds. Also lots of water. The weather felt amazing. Seriously- it was in the 70s, which never happens. Aaron and I started off for our long run. It felt pretty miserable during the first half, but the cooler weather certainly made it manageable. I went to a good mental place in my head, and told myself I was just going to finish no matter what and got through. The second half felt a bit better, but I was sweating SO much (weird, because I don't ever really sweat thaaat much). We finished the run, a little over race pace. After my run, I actually felt a ton better. There must be something to that whole "sweating out your sickness thing." I took a shower and we were on the road.

We were set to Hydrofly at 5 p.m. The car ride was literally anticipation at its finest. Aaron and I always have fun talking and looking at different things on the way there, so that helped take my mind off of what was to come. We got to Belton, let the dogs play. Sawyer had a standoff with the sheep and we at a bit. Then, it was onto the lake.

Let's talk outfit. As mentioned before, I didn't need to be flashing all of Lake Belton, so I decided it would be best to go with my Texas shorts (:)) and a dry-fit tank. Aaron went with sliders under his swimming shorts (nice move) and goggles (?!?!?). He busted these goggles out of his bag when we got there, and I felt way way underprepared. Aaron's sister sported the same type of outfit as mine. His sister and I were the most nervous, so we made Aaron go first. We had a short instruction, got outfitted with lifejackets and wetsuit (so "items of clothing don't come flying off"- the instructor's words, not mine) and headed to the boat. Since Aaron went first, he had to leave with the instructor on the jetski. The jetski is what propels the "flyer" into the air. The rest of us headed to the boat.

Us getting our instruction

Anticipation at its finest

 Aaron got strapped into the contraption, which is like a pair of boots, attached to a wakeboard-like contraption and a hose. The hose is attached the jetski, which is what ultimately propels you into the air. The instructor was driving the jetski, so he pulled Aaron to the middle of the lake, where we were waiting in the boat. Now, you start face-down in the water, in a "super-man" position. The "key" to this whole thing, is to keep your "knees straight and your toes straight and your back straight." Easier said than done. Since Aaron was our guinea pig, we got to watch his technique. He actually got into the air pretty quickly. It's hard to see what you are supposed to be doing until you actually get into the water and do it yourself. Regardless, after a couple of minutes, Aaron was off on Lake Belton doing this:

 Later, he got 22 feet into the air, doing this:

Look at the concentration!

 He made it look easy, but also had a couple of pretty scary looking falls from the air. The instructor lets you navigate and he follows you around on his jet-ski. You aren't ever in any danger of crashing into him or anyone else out there on the water.

Next up was Adrienne, Aaron's sister. She is pretty tiny, like me, so I figured her turn would be a more accurate representation of my turn. Here is Adrienne:

So yes, harder than Aaron made it look, but she still managed to get up in the air. Next up, was me. You have to put on the lifejacket, jump into the water and meet the instructor at his jetski. I was pretty nervous, but looking forward to getting it over with giving it a try. He strapped me in, rolled me over and told me to put the board under me. Hold up. Put the board under me? In the water? And everything floats? Yeah- easier said than done. Once I finally figured out how to put the board under me- thank you, yoga (at this point, you are literally standing straight up in the water- balancing), you straighten everything up, and he shoots you up. Or so they say. You really have to focus on balancing. If you don't come up straight, you aren't getting into the air. So, I channeled some yoga poses and running postures. And next thing I knew, I was up:

But once you're up, you have to come down. Someway, somehow. And it hurts. Luckily, Aaron says I at least fell gracefully, but I sure am sore today. It was so much fun, I couldn't stop laughing the entire time. I even did a trick:

Ha- it's actually me falling, but Aaron thinks it looks like I'm trying out a trick. To each his own. 

All in all, we had a great time and would totally do it again. Sunday, we got to do this:

The weather was gorgeous, and the water felt amazing!!!! Then, we headed back to Houston- more on our eventful drive back tomorrow! For now, happy Monday!!!