2018: The worst winter ever!

Good day friends,

They say you take the good with the bad, but this time it was very bad!

This post is all about complaining. First off, we had a series of fires that ravaged California, including the worst fire in CA history. “Thomas Fire” burned for almost a month and it was about 70miles wide. I had to evacuate and it really sucked to be outside, not able to breath fresh air, raining ashes everywhere, it was a mess. I couldn’t train, but why would I complain?! -people were losing their houses, animals were dying and getting displaced out of their environments. Training is the least of problems in the big scheme of things. Plus, I was recovering from a running injury (hip flexor tendon was shot, from overuse), so the rest came well.

If the fire was not enough, a couple weeks after, with the first big rain of the season came a deadly mudslide in Montecito. While I wasn’t affected, I know people that died and a lot of others who lost their houses. The geography and topography of the place completely changed.

What’s really messed up about these events and many others is that it’s all humans’ fault. That is sad. And probably not gonna get any better.

In a lesser scale, it was also the worst winter since I have lived here (10 years), in terms of rain-surf-snow. I work hard all year and then when I get a chance to play more, in the winter time, some of the best surf happens very close to where I live. And the snow is only a couple hours away.

Well, not this time… it was super dry, without any storms. No storms means no rain, and no rain means it’s not snowing as well in the mountains. The storms also bring the waves.

So far, there was almost none of that. Very bad winter indeed, in every front.

I cannot complain though. I’m alive and healthy, my family is well, our house didn’t burn. Life is precious, and we should not take it for granted, ever. Thank you and God bless all of you.