One of these days…

…my body is going to scream “ENOUGH!”…but until that time I will keep pushing.

I often marvel at the resilience of the human body. If trained well it can take a lot of abuse being thrown at it. And even if it is not trained it can still take that abuse; it won’t refuse, but perhaps protest a little loudly.

On the past weekend I participated in The Swamp Donkey Adventure Race. This was the fourth year I’ve done this race. With each successive year the race organizers devise more and more challenging tasks to test our resolve and will to continue. For the fourth year in a row my team has finished upright and smiling (well…sort of grimacing really). It is amazing really. When we began this journey into adventure racing we had done a couple of city adventure races (mostly pavement/limestone trails) and found them challenging and fun at the same time. When the opportunity came up to try a full-fledged Adventure Race we eagerly signed up. What’s the worst that could happen? Famous last words…

The first year we barely knew what we were in for…riding heavy commuter bikes, relying on compass alone and disregarding a nearby trail that would have gained us extra time to complete the advanced course. By year three we felt like seasoned veterans with war stories to tell about getting lost and a team-mate slashing open his thigh but continuing the race despite the copious amount of blood running down his leg. Stitches should have been in order, but stubbornness and loyalty to his team kept him going.

So by the time we hit the start line this year we felt we could handle just about anything the race organizers could throw at us. We all had full suspension mountain bikes, a fiberglass canoe and more than a few hours paddling training. We had the experience and the training. We were ready. All things considered we did quite well. The race consisted of 11 km of bush-whacking (2:46), 8.5 km of canoeing(1:10) and 48.5(4:50) km of biking - much of it on single track trails and old logging roads. (+ transition times)

I am very conscious of fueling and hydrating during races. I have run 5 marathons and have always been able to put enough food/water into my body to keep it happy and not bonk. The adventure races are no exception. But you fuel differently in a race like this. You eat cookies and Pringles chips and pepperoni sticks. I figured I only took in about 1400 calories during the 9+ hours of racing – way less than I would have burned off. (Interestingly under no circumstances would I EVER be able to eat pepperoni sticks during a marathon but in this race there was no issue whatsoever.) My body took what I gave it and used it to the best of its ability. It adapts.

Because I am constantly doing some kind of physical activity, and aside from the paddling sessions, I didn’t actively train for this race. I cycle, I run, and I swim. I often take for granted my fitness level. And in doing so, I tend to take for granted my fellow teammates’ fitness as well. While none of us found ourselves unable to complete the race, it was difficult at times for us. My team is very empathetic. No one gets upset when delays happen. But we are stronger than we were last year, and the year before that.

Friends of mine were also racing but an 11th hour injury to one of their members resulted in a quick search for a stand-in. Unfortunately this stand-in had no time to train as he had no prior intentions of racing it. I worried about him because this race was once again tougher than previous years. Their team finished the short course (about 20km less than our race ended up with none of the technical biking required) about 30 minutes after we completed the regular. As predicted his body was not happy and although it got him through the race, it was apparent that he was going to be reminded of it for some time to come. The abuse we dole…:)

Three days later I still hurt in some places. My legs are weary and my bike commute is harder than it should be. But this will pass. The human body is resilient. When we put our mind to it, we can accomplish more than we ever thought possible.

BUT...I am still smiling.

More letters…

Dear High Schooler,

Wow, it seems like yesterday you were just entering grade school and here you are, thinking that you are all grown up as you enter high school. Slow down a little and enjoy the ride.

High school can be a scary and intimidating place. Remember how you feel this day, and keep that memory fresh for when you are in grade 12 watching the grade niner’s starting high school. Think about what would have made your day better, having someone show you where the cafeteria is, or directs you to the library, and then do it.

If you thought you made a lot of new friends in grade school and junior high, and all those people will continue to be your friends, think again. Teenagers are fickle and switch loyalties for the silliest of reasons. If you are looking for true, life-long friends, wait until you go to University.

Once again, you won’t be included in one of the “cool groups”. You will wonder how these groups form, and lose many hours of sleep wondering why they didn’t choose you to be part of their inner circle. But you will have your own group of two or three friends and this is what you will remember most from your high school years. Unfortunately you will change towns after grade 11 and have to start again from scratch, in a brand new high school.

You will shy away from team sports, but join the cross-country running team. Oh yeah, and you will hate it. No one will tell you how to train, so you will head out and run three or four miles after school. You will hardly be able to walk the next day, and you will recall that feeling each time you think about cross-country running. Thankfully the season only lasts for a month or two until winter sets in.

You will join the cheerleading squad. You won’t be the head cheerleader and you won’t date the captain of the football team. He won’t even know who you are, or see your cheers because unfortunately a girl named Candace will also join the squad. She is not as coordinated as you but she is tall and slim with strawberry blond hair and large breasts. She will be placed in the front row and during pep rallies everyone’s eyes will be on “Candy”. No, it’s not fair, but you have learned by now that life is anything but fair. You persevere.

You will form a Drama Club and it is here that your true talents will show. Your club will perform George Garrett’s “Sir Slob and the Princess” for surrounding grade schools, and you will travel to a regional Drama Festival where your club wins a bronze medal for its production of L.E. Preston’s one-act comedy “Last Weekend at High Ridge”. Your shyness will disappear, but only when you are onstage.

You will have your first real job in high-school – taking inventory in the school library at the end of the school year. You remember this job not for the plethora of books you need to document or the tedium of re-stacking them all, but for the lunch hour break each day when the librarian lets you go to the back room and watch an episode of “The Prisoner” series on VHS tapes. (“I am not a number. I am a person.”)

You will take driver’s education in the classroom with an instructor who has a glass eye. This will be the first time you’ve ever seen someone like this and it will disconcert you. Your practical instruction will be a woman who clutches a shiny red purse to her chest, and hovers her foot over the brake in the passenger side of the Driver’s Ed car. During the highway portion of training she will order you to honk at the pedestrians who are walking along the side of the road. This will embarrass you because these pedestrians are young men and you will feel self-conscious. During the parallel parking component she will tell you to back up farther…farther…farther until you bump into the car behind you. “That’s far enough” she will say and order you drive off without getting out of the car.

You will pass your driver’s test the first time but hesitate to drive anywhere because the only vehicle your family owns is a Dodge Club cab half-ton with a three-on-the-tree manual transmission. Your father will take you out on the back roads to teach you how to drive it and years later you will be thankful you learned to drive a stick early on.

Because you move in the middle high school you will miss standing up with all the people you went through school with from primary grades and up. You travel to attend their graduation and your four best friends (not surprisingly, three from the drama club) will surprise you with a school year-book signed by everyone in the class. You will be touched by all the kind words written by people you barely knew or hung out with.

If you are wondering why I haven’t mentioned any of your classes, it is because you excel in all of them. You are a good student and you will maintain an 80 average throughout high school. There isn’t much to say here except keep up the good work.

High school is a time where you begin to come into your own. There will be many lessons learned, and some of them re-learned. And most of these you will have to discover for yourself.

I’m proud of who you will become. And I admire your tenacity. You are stronger than you think. Remember that always.

You

P.s. In 25 years you will attend your High School Reunion. I won’t spoil it by telling you what happens but suffice it to say that you will be pleasantly surprised.