Monthly Archives: March 2007

Post to the Yahoo CM group

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I posted this to the Yahoo CM group and thought I should include it here as well:

> Here is my last question: with grade 4 CMP in the right knee and
> grade 3 CMP in the left knee, and 3 knee surgeries, I have come to
> accept the fact that my running days are over (I am a 31 year old
> triathlete and marathoner…no longer I guess). What do I do now???

I know how you feel, and for many on this board that were not competitive athletes, it is hard for them to understand where we come from. Adventure racing was a huge part of my life before my knee went south, and some advice you will receive will be just happy to be walking. And I actually agree that at some point, you may have to accept that.

Personally, I have not yet given up on getting back to racing, though I am getting closer to that every month. 😦 The type of racing I did was 2 to 3 day races, in which we would run/trek 40-60 miles, mountain bike 100+ miles, paddle 20-50 miles, do rope skills, etc. So it was pretty extreme. Now, post surgery, it has taken a long time to get back to running 30 minutes, and even then I have minor discomfort in the knee the next day. But I have learned not to push so hard, to take it easy, and see how the knee reacts. Rest, ice, and sometimes NSAIDs, but I do try to limit that.

If I can’t get back to racing competitively, my next goal is to race for fun. If not 2 to 3 day races, short ones like 3 or 4 hours. If that is not to be, then I hope to be able to do some short mountain bike races, or do short orienteering events (which I have been pretty successful at the last few months). But if that is not to be, I hope to be able to do a weekend back pack trip. And if I can’t even do that, then I hope to be able to play with my kids — kick a soccer ball, or play tag, etc. And finally, if none of that is to be, then I hope to just walk around normally, pain free.

But, finally, I have to move. For some reason exercise is just ingrained in me. So if I can’t run or hike or walk or bike, then I will do other things, like an elliptical, or swim, or yoga, or lift weights, or do physically demanding work around my house.

Good luck!

Thirteen Moons. Charles Frazier.

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thirteen.gif

thirteen.gif

Charles Frazier is the author of Cold Mountain, and I first heard his name when we were staying in the NC mountains near where he wrote that book. Someone mentioned he had written much of it near a cabin we had rented. I immediately went out and got that book, and loved it. And the movie was pretty good too. 🙂

Thirteen Moons is his 2nd novel, with a 9 year gap between the two. I assume much of that is for the required research. It is the story of a boy sent out, pretty much by himself, into 19th century america, at the border of the Indian/Cherokee nation. It follows his life story, and more importanly the story of the Cherokee nation, at a time when the American government was pushing them west, on the “Trail of Tears.”

I have to admit that the opening chapter had me hooked — it was the young boy looking back, talking like a wisened old man, which he was. And most of the book was pretty good, though towards the end, the story kind of fizzled for me. I guess I don’t know what I expected, but I expected something different. I still highly recommend it, though I’d probably give it one less star than Cold Mountain. Beautiful language, historical fiction (often my favorite), and it’s local to the NC mountains again.

As usual, here are some quotes:

  • The gist of the story is that even when all else is lost and gone forever, there is yearning. One of the few welcome lessons age teaches is that only desire trumps time.

  • Some people wanted to know their future, and some didn’t. I, for one, didn’t. Is wolf or bear aware of impending death? No. Would wolf or bear be better for the knowledge? I tend to think not. Be as you are and then go on your way to the Nightland is my belief.

  • I don’t know why I like this one so much. Someone a long time ago told me to buy the right tools for the job and do it yourself. In the end, the tool will pay for itself. Of course that assumes that you may need the tool more than once, which is not always the case.

    The way I see it, I can either hire a man to plow my cornfield every spring, or I can buy a plow. I’m looking to buy a plow.

  • … I believe we should all have to testify against ourselves at some latter point in life. Lay out our flaws with a clerk writing it all down for permanent record. It is a baracing and chastening experience…

  • If you are going to die tomorrow, do you spend the time praising creation or cursing God?

  • When everything is immediately availalbe and infinitely reproducible, nothing is valuable.

Orienteering A-meet

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Saturday was Backwoods Orienteering’s (the local club) first A-meet in a couple years, and it was my first A-meet ever. There were a ton of people — in fact, a bus of cadets from West Point made the 12+ drive down to race.

I had gotten a minor stomach bug on Thursday, but strong enough to make me not want to eat much, and that was apparent for me early in the race. I ended up walking a lot more than I had hoped, which is of course evident in my time. My navigation was ok, but not great. There were 20 controls, and I was spot-on on at least 1/2 of them. But there is always one or two that mess me up. I must have gone by one about 5 or 6 times, all within 10-15 feet of it, including running right by it on my entrance to the area, but it was low in a ditch. Problem was there were about 20 ditches all right there so i spent at least 10 minutes looking through that area. 😦

My knee handled the 2+ hours fine, but my legs were pretty dead, so, like I said, I did walk a lot.

Here are the results. I am amazed at the winning time!

Red M (27) 7.5 km 330 m 20 C

1 Andras Revesz 62 DVOA M45 65:45
2 Randy Hall 65 DVOA M40 72:20
3 Istvan Nagy 60 DVOA M45 78:11
4 Nadim Ahmed 61 QOC M45 78:15
5 Dylan Thies 87 HOC M20 85:20
6 Josef Trzicky 59 COK M45 85:41
7 Gabriel Svobodny 90 MVOC M20 87:18
8 Neal Trump 87 USMAOC M20 89:33
9 Justin Lane 88 QOC M20 94:01
10 James Lingar 59 QOC M45 95:12
11 Thomas Svobodny 58 MVOC M45 96:38
12 Artem Kazantsev 67 BOK M40 99:17
13 Vladimir Stemkovski 74 BOK MR 99:20
14 Dale Helm 89 QOC M20 99:53
15 Aleks Peterson 90 QOC M20 101:12
16 Linda Kohn 50 ROC MR 111:36
17 William Corkey 73 BOK MR 113:49
18 Patrick Downie 71 BOK M35 114:23
19 Charles Martz 72 COK M35 117:16
20 Benjamin Bruder 83 USMAOC MR 118:33
21 Jeff Porter 67 CAOC M40 120:28
22 Sean Butler 70 BOK M35 124:59
23 Rick Worner 47 ROC M45 130:50
24 Scott Drumm 65 CROC M40 138:30
25 Ken. Hanson 65 BOK M40 140:50
26 Donna Fluegel 59 WCOC MR 171:30

nc Barbara Bryant 62 TOC M45 117:38