The South Beach Diet, and A Request To All

My version of the South Beach Diet is comprised of a heaping helping of surf, sun and fun down in Frisco! Anne, Banana, and I headed down to the airport ramp for the afternoon, seeking some waves and sunshine. Leftover windswell from yesterday's Southerlies, with light offshore breeze made for some fun waist-ish high surf, bigger earlier, but I slept in... Unfortunately, yesterday's wind did not push in any warm water, so temps remain in the 40s. Caught a bunch of fun waves, but I got tired quickly... so we started having some good ol' fashioned fun and games on the beach!

I had my GPS in the truck, so we had a sprinting contest. Anne didn't think I could break 10 mph in the sand, so we made a small wager, and off I went:

Suffice to say, she's the one cooking dinner tonight! 16.3 mph was my max! I couldn't celebrate my victory for long, however, because she started making fun of my form. Apparently I stick my ass out. So, a few hints about running posture and I was right back at it:
My good form the second time around slowed me down 3 mph, to 13.4! Thanks for the help! Now it's Anne's chance to prove herself:

Yeah, so, she's cooking dinner tomorrow night, too! Ha! In her defense, she did already run 3 miles while I was out surfing... but she hit a very respectable 11.2 mph!!!

After catching our breath, I started walking around and picking up trash strewn on the beach. I collected all this in about 3 minutes, all within a 20 yard radius of my truck:


So much for the unspoiled beauty of Hatteras, eh? It's possible that yesterday's swell washed a bunch of this crap up, I guess. It really could've come from anywhere, but most likely it got tossed out someone's window... Kind of bums me out. It also could've washed in from one of the trash vortexes out in the ocean. If you haven't heard about them, check this out (greenpeace site). I first learned of it from here (usually happier news, the maui surf report). There's one vortex in the North Pacific the size of Texas! Literally, a floating raft of junk with the acreage of our second biggest state, or, for you Northerners out there, all of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina combined! WTF?! A healthy portion of the waste is plastic shopping bags.

Fun facts and numbers:

The worldwide consumption rate of plastic bags is at least 500 billion per year. That's about 1 million per minute!!!!

It is estimated that billions of those bags end up as litter every year. Simple math: If 1% ends up unaccounted for, that's 5 billion missing bags, every year...

Plastic bags don't biodegrade. They break down into tiny little fragments, which then end up in the food chain when fish and birds unknowingly ingest them. This adds toxins and carcinogens to what WE eat.

Read more here (reusablebags.com).

What can you do? The easiest thing is to bring reusable bags to the store. Many stores sell sturdy bags, and some even give $ credit for using your own bag (usually about $.05 per bag). That means a $5 reusable bag will fiscally pay for itself in 100 uses. It will conscientiously pay for itself the first time you use it.

Also, consider packaging when purchasing items. Glass is easier and safer to reuse, or make sure you purchase products in easily recyclable plastics (#'s 1 and 2, and sometimes 5).

Sorry if this is bumming you out, but I think it's important. Nothing kills a sesh for me more than seeing junk floating around in the water or strewn on the beach. Also, the old wive's tale states that "you are what you eat," and I don't want to eat plastic. Therefore, I don't want my food sources to be eating plastic, either...