Not a specific essay or point to this all, other than it being a chance to coalesce some thoughts related to health & well-being.
It's been a week since Thok! It's also just a little over a week since the long-anticipated (and if you don't really know how long, you have no idea) trip to Escalante Grand Staircase. I'm still feeling some residual soreness in my ankle, but I went for my first run since the incident last night. I felt a little clunky. Also, needing to run shirtless (a practice that used to almost be my calling card) due to some extreme heat & humidity, I found myself feeling a little chunky. I don't think I've varied much from my 170-175 lb weight range over the past few years, so I don't think there's anything that's unusually out of control. I've just not been in the general practice, during runs, of being able to look down and actually see that extra 20 lbs I put on following my 1996 marathon.
It's interesting...I continue to eat larger meals than I need to, and snack often late into the night. But in terms of quality of food, I'm not sure I've ever eaten better. The majority of our meals are homecooked and Sharon buys, for the most part, either organic or all-natural ingredients in addition to whole grains, foods without trans-fats, & various other pieces of a healthy diet that weren't on the farthest ranges of my radar ten years ago. Never is that more obvious than when I go down to visit my relatives in Iowa (as I did this past weekend). Both my parents and my brothers' family stock their fridges & cabinets with an array of foodstuffs that make my internal systems nearly freeze up if even thought about.
In any event, for this once-in-a-lifetime (actually, more like once every five years) trip, I had always thought I would have an extended training period in extreme heat to condition myself for the rigors of the expedition. As the date grew nearer, however, I realized that 1) all members of the party are going to show up in various states of fitness, and one of them, at least, will be at a level that is far below anything I have ever known 2) this trip is more about solitude, fellowship, and re-energizing than it is about being a recreation of Vasco Núñez de Balboa's journey across the West.
Boy this is really a stream of consciousness. I guess what I can take from all this is that I am not too fat to fit into Coyote Gulch, and the shit I leave at the bottom of my catholes will not alter desert ecology at a molecular level.
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6 comments:
I second that.
Escalante sounds like a remarkable experience. The blurb you linked describes it as the most desolate of all national parks. Is it the solitude that attracts? The connection to nature? Something do just do? I think all are good enough reasons. Anyway, can't wait to hear how it went. I'm assuming there's no bloggability out there, so I can wait until you all get back.
After years of dabbling we finally purchased a membership to the local food co-op in Iowa City. I feel confident enough to go as whole-food as I can now. I crossed the age 35 mark and realized it's time to stop eating garbage as much as possible.
I put a lot of processed crap in my body in my early 20s. I was a lot thinner then, but I also had the metabolism of a shrew. I will accept a little softness in the middle through my middle years, as long as it is mostly the result of hearty, natural meals (if slightly too large ones).
As far as why Escalante-we (pat M Cory L Dan H Pat G, though Pat G cannot go) have a history of shared outdoor experiences which we have all carried through to our separate lives to various degrees of success in the past few years. We still do adventures like this when we can, but the Escalante one will definitely be the biggest one we have ever embarked upon as a group. The seeds were planted actually way back in college, as a result of a class Pat G (ironically, since he won't be there) took where a book on hiking its canyons was required reading. We made plans then to all "someday" do the trip. You know-those kinds of vague plans you make in college and never actually do...
I didn't really answer "why" that well. We all appreciate hiking, camping, solitude, nature, ecology, and road trips.
I didn't really answer "why" that well. We all appreciate hiking, camping, solitude, nature, ecology, and road trips.
Desert Solitaire was the book, by Edward Abbey, who spent a season as a Park Servie ranger in that part of the country. He's also a well known environmentalist who wrote a book called the Monkey Wrench Gang.
I had to read DS as part of a photography class I took my last summer in college. That was a good summer. 2 classes - one photography, one a CAD class. A number of friends still in Ames. Cookouts a couple times a week. The early days of dating Faith. But I digress....
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