How Changing a Tire Becomes an “Epic Adventure” – or, it’s all about perspective.

My drawing skills and handwriting skills are atrocious. I know. :)In my life, I get asked two questions above all others. One is “How are you still alive?!?!?” which is always asked in an incredulous tone. The second is, “How do you manage to get yourself in all of these situations??!?!”. The answer to the first question is a trade secret. Someday, I’ll reveal it, when I figure it out. The answer to the second question is harder. I usually laugh it off. Sometimes, I’ll try to explain that I have the devil’s luck (http://www.lastadventurer.com/last-adventurers-fieldnotes/2010/4/29/smoke-em.html), sometimes I confine my response to “wrong time, right place”, and sometimes, I’ll try to explain that it’s all a question of perspective about whether the incident was extraordinary or not.

For example, a couple of Wednesdays ago, I left my office. While sitting in a long line of cars, I saw something that did not belong in the day-to-day sameness. It was a car with a flat tire parked up against the curb. Behind the car, an old man was struggling to get the spare out of the trunk. After watching seven cars pass the old man without stopping, I realized that I would be ashamed to proceed any further without helping. I pulled out of the line of cars I was sitting in. I parked on the curb behind the old man. I introduced myself and offered to help. He told me he was 87 years old, and among other things, very grateful for any help I could give him. I rolled up my sleeves, got the spare out, wheeled it over to the flat, and then noticed that the car wasn’t really on the jack that he had put under it.

As I hesitantly reached in to see whether I needed to remove the jack entirely and replace it, the car shifted. I jerked my questioning left arm back, but not fast enough. Something clipped it – the bumper, the car, whatever – something. Blood began to well out of a gash. Shaking my head at my own naiveté, I went back to my car, and bandaged my arm. Then, I went back to the old man’s car, laughed off his comment that he had thought I was leaving, and finished changing the tire. After he and his wife thanked me, they drove off. I then continued on home, and cleaned and bandaged the wound. Later, at dinner with friends, one of them pointed at my arm and asked what had happened. I told them, and as they shook their heads in disbelief, the above question came up. Amused, I told them that it was nothing, because it was within the normal range of experiences in my day-to-day life. At that point, looking at their faces, I could tell that their perspective, it was an adventure.

Despite this, I was nonplussed. The next day, I was with some different friends, when the subject came up again as the bandage was still there. One friend kept asking me, “how exactly did that happen?”. And, after I had explained it a number of times, he was still curious – and had a number of questions I couldn’t answer. Laughing, I told him that I didn’t have the answers to his questions because I had been too busy trying to save my arm. As I joke, I told him that I’d draw him a picture of the events. After finding pen and paper, I began to draw a picture – but in the midst of drawing poorly, I realized that I’d rather make a joke out of it, and began to make some additions. The picture you see at the top is my recollection of the picture I drew for him. Yes, my art skills are horrendous. And yes, my handwriting is even more awful.

In the picture, fish fly across the sky, trees have wisdom, the old man was an evil wizard, and there was a summoning circle to another dimension, among other things. When I was done, I handed it across to him, and said pithily, “This should answer all of your questions!”. He stared at it for a bit, and very rightly criticized my drawing and handwriting, but laughed about things. Later, when I was at home, I realized that the story had become an adventure due to the attention and silliness that had followed it.

In that way, perspective’s an interesting thing – it changes based on time, place, and sometimes, the reactions of others. I find it’s always good to try and consider as many perspectives as I can, when I’m making a decision, solving a problem, addressing disputes, dealing with crises, accepting rejection, or simply choosing a flavor of ice cream, before remembering who I am, and using that perspective to do what needs to be done. I find if you want to have an adventure, all you need to do is change your perspective. Adventure is everywhere. My tip: start small, consider different things, and work your way up from there; and always be ready to deal with small issues, like scraped arms, with a smile.

I’ll be out at the Xterra Malibu Creek race tomorrow (http://www.trailrace.com/malibu.html) for most of the morning, racing and talking, if anyone wants to swing by. Next week: race coverage, and an extended series of posts about desert adventuring and the perils it may entail….

The “DC” – Step lightly, dangerous at any speed since days of yore.

Some of the DC in action...but not taking a step back.It’s lonely being an adventurer. The remote places of the world don’t speak homo sapiens, at least not verbally, and if you think they are, chances are that you’ve been out in the wild too long. It’s tough being an adventurer. Bad weather leads to close quarters at times, which leads to murderous tent fever between even the best of friends. It’s dangerous being an adventurer; the world barely knows that you stand upon it; and the stars can’t see you from that far away, so when disaster strikes, you’re on your own. It’s beautifully complicated being an adventurer, because it’s hard to articulate that heart stopping serendipity that permeates every aspect of your soul when you see aspects of the unknown in far-off spots; but fortunately, there’s glossy 4 x 6 prints, and stories that last beyond the arc of a lifetime, if you’re lucky.

It’s interesting being an adventurer, because everyone inherently wants to explore this planet in their own way; and if you’re personable, eventually you persuade one person to come along with you; and another; and then another; and then, before you know it, you’re surrounded by the very people you wanted to avoid, but if you’ve done a good job, you realize that you don’t mind at all. I’ve led expeditions; I’ve rescued expeditions; I’ve gone on solo expeditions, and most famously, I punched someone on an expedition after he nearly dragged my team down a crevasse. After all of this, I can fairly say that I wouldn’t want to have any other group of adventurers with me than my current hiking group, the DC.

What does the “DC” stand for? Dorky crickets. Danger curtains. Double coco. Dodo chase. District chipper. Dastardly calm. Daffodil covenant. Dancing couches. It stands for anything you want it to be, because it’s really about the people. Literally, it stands for “DEATH CLUB” because one year, I took some people to Death Valley. The week after my trip, a friend of mine was talking to me, and when she heard about it, she said, “What’ve you got going there, some sort of death club?” before laughing. Later on, when I was asked to led hikes, there was no doubt in my mind what I would call the group.

Enough about names. What makes the group exceptional are the people. The group’s got people who went up Whitney in legendary fashion. It’s people who are willing to put up with rain, wind, triple digit temperatures, mountains, desert, beach, forest, snow, ice, sun, and hiking in the dark. It’s people scaring people with noises of mythical creatures. It’s people solving puzzles; debating the state budget without understanding it; noting that dirt is brown; laughing; and occasionally saving the planet when asked to do so. The DC is people who read my crazy e-mails and laugh at them, and it’s people who Photoshop pictures of group trips. Most of all, the DC is people finding adventure everywhere, because they know that adventure is lurking beyond every corner of life. It’s a group of people that I feel privileged to take out into the wild each month. So, this is for you guys – thanks for coming along and making each experience I plan that much better by your presence there. It’s probably also worth mentioning that we were out yesterday, enjoying the day – maybe next month, if you’re a hiker or bystander, you’ll see us out there, because when it comes down to it, there’s really no mistaking us. See you on or off the trail!Marine mammals - deadly when sleepy.

Xterra Black Mountain Trail Run, March 14, 2010 5/15k

Authorized fourth gear speed only. It’s too damn dark. That was the first thought in my befuddled head as my alarm shouted loudly. My second thought was simply frustrated. I goddamn hate spring back, fall forward and all of that Daylight Savings bullcrap! My third thought was garden variety surly. Why am I doing this again? I didn’t have the answer to the last question; and I certainly couldn’t change the planet’s rotation to make me feel extra rested, so I did what any rational person would do, and rolled out of bed, cursing. After a bit, I felt semi-human, and slogged out to my car to drive up to the second regional SoCal Xterra race at Black Mountain. (http://www.trailrace.com/blackmtn.html).

As luck – or misfortune had it, the Black Mountain run had fallen on the Sunday which the clocks were changed, leaving me – and everyone else with one hour less of sleep prior to the race. As I watched the sun rise as I drove to the location, I felt a little less cranky. It was going to be a pretty day. But then, mini-disaster struck. I followed the directions to the race location, only to find that there was no race location there. As I scratched my head, checked my clocks and the date on my calendar, I saw other drivers who were clearly runners as well, driving in circles like hypnotized chickens. Rather than do the reasonable thing and follow one of them, I kept driving around in my own circles in increasing desperation until, out of spite, I followed one to the right location for the race. At this point (a month later) I can’t find the directions that I had that day, and I’m not sure if I read them correctly as I was very tired that day, but let this be a reminder of what I discussed last post (http://www.lastadventurer.com/last-adventurers-fieldnotes/2010/4/30/the-worlds-fastest-5k-the-carlsbad-5000-april-11-2010.html), to always allow yourself enough time prior to the race to get there and get ready.

Despite my potential directional incompetence, I got to the starting line just in time to hear the announcer discussing how the course was going to be an “in and out” track, meaning that we’d have to come back up the same hill we ran down. I lodged that fact and started hopping around to stay loose in the chilly, dewy air. The next thing I knew, the gun had fired, and I was mid-pack charging down the hill. As more and more people passed me, I began to wonder if I was just that slow, or I was having that bad of a day, or what exactly was going on. As we hit the turnaround point, the track leveled out, and I looked back up at the steep ascent up the hill in front of us. I could still see the leaders, and as my legs churned up the hill, I began to pass people, slowly, at first, and then in groups and bunches. Before I knew it, I had separated myself from the horde of tired runners who had blown their speed in the first part of the race, or didn’t have the legs to charge the hill.

My words of wisdom for this type of situation are therefore pretty simple: first, always run your race. Don’t worry about who’s passing you; or who you’re passing. Unless you’re that good, chances are there’s someone faster than you, so accept that fact, and do the best you can, but not on someone else’s terms. Second, on an “in and out” trail run, don’t burn your energy on the easy, downhill portion of the race. Save it for the killer ascent on the way back. But, back to the race. Even though I was running my race, I left a little time on the course by not pushing it as hard as I could after the person in front of me near the finish. As such, I finished fourth, but I’ll definitely be back next year with a better knowledge of the course, more motivation, and hopefully, a better night’s sleep. 

The World’s Fastest 5k– the Carlsbad 5000, April 11, 2010

My favorite Floyd song "Fearless" off of "Meddle"

Tick tick tick. Bounce bounce bounce. My head was bobbing to the plastic beats of Just Impolite by Plushgun as I waited to turn. The track was a great addition to my music library based on the suggestion of my good friend Kevin, who always keeps me updated on music and all things technology related. (Catch his blog here: http://iphoneliving.blogspot.com/). “I walk the line like Johnny Cash” I wailed along to the lyrics as I shook it out behind the wheel. I knew I was being watched by the car next to me, but as always, I didn’t care. I did, however, feel relieved that they couldn’t hear my atrocious singing. Then, the light clicked over, I threw a smile at my audience next to me, mashed the pedal, and zipped onto the freeway. The iPod clicked and whirred and skipped to Something Good Can Work by Two Door Cinema Club, and I set to work butchering the lyrics to that at seventy-five miles an hour across the Southern California northbound freeways.

Despite it being cloudy, I was feeling good and ready for the Carlsbad 5000. I had my eighties headband on, and, as seen above, my Pink Floyd t-shirt in honor of the 25^th anniversary of the race. In case you’re from a part of the world that hasn’t heard about it, the race is a standard five kilometer along the Pacific ocean on paved roads, and over the last two decades has developed a well deserved reputation for being the “fastest” such race in the world. (http://www.carlsbad5000.com/Home.html). Each year the race attracts a large field of serious, bona fide competitors, and a larger crowd of aspiring athletes and happy locals. This year, the weather was sadly, a little overcast, cool, and windy, but overall, not too bad.

After arriving in Carlsbad, I set about looking for parking. Due to the size of the race, start times were staggered for the different age groups and genders. As my friends jokingly told me, I was in the “old man group” of men aged 30-39. My first pro tip for racing in general is that no matter the size of the race, always arrive early, to have plenty of time to park, get warmed up, and possibly inspect the course. At a large event like Carlsbad, extra time is a necessity, as I think I spent thirty minutes trying to find a spot. Once I had my spot, I walked to the start area, and found the area packed with runners and friends. Surprisingly, I found my friends, Steph and Nina who were running the woman’s race after mine, and after talking with them for a couple minutes, headed off to get ready. After stretching it out and jogging around, I went to position myself for the starting gun.

This brings me to my second tip: in large races, signs will be present regarding positioning for the race, based on mile times, such as “Nine minute mile”, “Eight Minute Mile”, or whatever a person’s pace is per mile. My tip is as follows: always position yourself accordingly! If you place yourself in too fast of a group, you’re going to negatively impact faster runners behind you; or, if you’re me, you’re going to hurt your time by placing yourself in too slow of a group, and have to pass people earlier and inopportune spots than you would otherwise choose to do so. In this respect, I mis-judged my conditioning. I knew that a road race was not my type of race, as I do a lot of cross-country, hill training as opposed to straight, flat, speed training. With this in mind, I placed myself mid-way between the six and seven minute mile pace, only to find that the group around me was way too slow overall for how fast I was running.

Despite this mistake, the race was fantastic; it’s an amazing experience to come down the straightaways in Carlsbad with all of the people cheering; and the views of the ocean at the midpoint are always nice, even on a cloudy day. While I was nowhere close to winning, I did manage to finish within the top finishers of my class, and even had enough energy to run the race again with Steph and Nina later on. I’ll definitely be back at it next year, hoping to improve upon my time and possibly pass a few more of my challengers then!

Viva Las Henderson?!?! - Lake Las Vegas Xterra Trail Run, April 24, 2010

A burro-less sunset.

The series of races that I’m competing in right now is the Xterra Trail Run series, and since I live in Southern California, I’m doing the Southern California portion of the series. (http://www.xterraplanet.com/xduro/index.html; http://www.trailrace.com/ ). I think Xterra puts on a great series of races, as the courses are always challenging, and the competition is usually fairly strong. I learned about their trail run series last year when I competed at the Mission Trails 5k with some friends. (http://www.mtrp.org/events.asp?actiontype=showdate&the_date=2/1/2009).  At that point, I was coming off some knee problems, and in the middle of the race, I was passed by some younger runners, which made me start seriously swearing at myself. Despite that, I had a decent race, and even though I was out for a while after that, I was motivated to come back stronger than ever for the 2010 series.

After running a couple Xterra races earlier this year, I was super pumped when I was offered a chance to race at Lake Las Vegas for free. (http://www.xterraplanet.com/xduro/lakelasvegas.html). I considered the offer for about thirty seconds before I decided that I was definitely going. And, after doing a little research and making a few plans, I had strung together a nice little series of events to do before and after. As a result, last Friday found me making camp near the Nevada border. Around eight o’clock, I watched the early stars come out before I went to bed. My plan was to get a good night’s sleep, since I would have to get up early to finish the drive, pick up my bib, and make the starting call. While it was a great plan, it didn’t work out, mainly because of some jackasses – literally.

Around one-thirty in the morning, I heard some crazy noises, which, when you’re camping alone in the middle of nowhere, is never good. In this case, everything turned out fine, as it was merely two wandering wild burros, who turned out not to be dangerous or hostile. In fact, after I fed them apples, we were the best of friends. In fact, we were such good friends, they wanted to continue hanging out, while I merely wanted to get back to sleep. After I got rid of the burros, I laid awake for a little bit, and then was shocked awake by my overly loud alarm.

As I drove into Las Vegas, I watched the desert glow and burn with the rising sun. By the time I arrived at Lake Las Vegas for the race, I was ready to go, albeit a little more blurry and tired than I would have preferred. I also had a lot on my mind that morning; people; questions about people; and general uncertainties about events in my life. As a result, the song running through my head was probably more along the lines of Elvis’ You Were Always on My Mind, completely sappy and slow, than my usual upbeat in your face warm ups of the Propellerheads or Rage Against the Machine. As I stretched it out, I took a minute to try and clear my head. While I couldn’t banish the uncertainty away in the thirty seconds of slow breathing, I did manage to reach a place where I could use it to motivate me. Which, as a semi-veteran runner, is my tip for this post: almost anything in your life can be motivation, if you look at it properly.

With my head mostly clear, and my body mostly not tired, I hit the start line. The race wasn’t as busy as some of the other Xterra events, and I found myself in a good starting spot. The course for the five and ten kilometer was the same; with the exception being that the ten kilometer was a two circuit loop and the five kilometer was a one circuit loop. The course led out through streets near the lake, before hitting some “rough” (I use that word loosely here) patches on the hills. After previewing the course, and then running the course, I have to admit that this wasn’t really a “trail” course; and in terms of other Xterra races, it probably was the worst layout I have seen. I make this point because most courses in the series are well positioned and metered. However, complaining doesn’t get you anywhere – especially when you’re running.

The race started, and I found myself packed in the lead group, heading up a hill immediately; before settling in. After the initial ascent, it was a slightly hilly course. Around the mid-point marker for the 5k, there was a semi-steep decent, but overall, the course was not overly challenging. Despite this, I found myself behind the fourth place finisher approaching the finish. I had been pushing it for a bit, and had shaved off a substantial amount of time between him and I, but despite how much my brain was telling me that I could catch him, my lungs were complaining loudly. Prior to the race, I had been concerned about how the altitude difference (Sea Level compared to 4000 feet) would affect my performance. I had tried to acclimatize to a higher elevation the days before, but due to a variety of activities, hadn’t spent enough time at a higher or equal elevation to make a great difference. (As a matter of fact, I had spent time at an elevation lower than that of sea level – doh!). Sadly, I didn’t catch him. In retrospect, I think had I made my push sooner, I would have had a better shot, but one never knows. Fifth place overall wasn’t a bad result, and it provided me with great experience for my next race, coming up on May 8, 2010 at Malibu. So, if you think you can school me or want to race with me, I’ll see you on the trail there! (http://www.trailrace.com/malibu.html). 

Smoke 'em!

I have the devil’s luck. By the “devil’s luck”, I mean that I can find trouble, adventure, excitement, or anything out of the ordinary without even trying. In recent weeks, I’ve changed tires, provided first aid, given directions, and more for total strangers. To be honest, that’s not even a comprehensive list of situations I’ve found myself in lately. That list leaves out things that might not be funny; and things that are personal, such as rough spots in my life, problems that friends have, and professional situations. Fortunately for everyone, while I have the devil’s luck in finding these situations, I don’t act like the devil, as I always help people. I’m a problem solver. It’s what I do.

The problem with solving problems is that, after a while, it becomes tiring. Whether it’s physically tiring, like wrestling rusted bolts of a tire, or mentally tiring, in dealing with a difficult problem, or emotionally tiring in dealing with a complex set of personal issues, the fatigue builds up. I find – for me – that one has to have an outlet to deal with these stresses – whether it’s offbeat jokes, or something else, that outlet has to be there, otherwise I find one goes something something crazy at the slightest provocation down the road. Since I don’t want to go bat-shit crazy or something something crazy, one of my outlets is running.

In this respect, I’m lucky in two ways. Number one, I like running. (Seriously, if you don’t like running, don’t do it. You’re going to hate life. Trust me.) Number two, I live in Southern California, where I can run outside, well, every day, realistically, as the weather is never bad enough to stop it. In the past, I’ve always relied on it as a great way to decompress, think things over, and in some cases, come up with ideas. This year, however, I’ve really gotten back into running as a sport, and not just as a way to reduce stress. Last year, I didn’t run much – in part because I took damage on some of my trips; and in part because that damage took a while to heal.

This year, I’m back, and back with a vengeance. So much so that I’ve been out and about competing in a number of races. While I’ve been doing really well, overall, there’s still room for improvement as I go along. But for the runners out there, and for the interested parties, I announce the first ever “Race Week” here on the blog, where I’ll detail some of the races I’ve participated in recently, talking about the courses and providing what insights I can. And, if you’re ever in the Southern California area, you might see me out training at Torrey Pines State Reserve, or Mission Trails, or anywhere where it’s outside. Just don’t stop me if you have a problem. Just kidding. I’ll probably already be stopping and offering you help. So, see you out there, competitors!

A blog shortage? Are you serious? Well, maybe not yet. But soon?

It’s dangerous – it’s deadly – we may have to start rationing – whatever will we do – there might be a panic – or it might be a sign of the apocalypse. Yes, readers, ABC News are reporting what I suspected back in this post here: http://last-adventurer.squarespace.com/last-adventurers-fieldnotes/2010/3/6/interregnum-where-to-go-from-here-the-map-is-blank-part-i.html : that the amount of blogs is potentially declining. ABC news has picked up on the point I was discussing a couple weeks ago – that in an age where 126-500 characters is a lot, it’s difficult to get – and retain a captive audience who wants to read 500 to a 1000 words. The article also reverses that point and looks at it the other way, in that in the age where thoughts are shared succinctly, it’s difficult for people to condense their knowledge into that small of a space; and in a similar fashion, that it is difficult for some people to be forced to write 500 words on a weekly or daily basis.

I find this interesting, because first off, there is no solid empirical data on how many blogs there are out there – or were out there. It may be possible that the high point for blogging may in our collective past. Similarly, it may also be true that the high point may be coming with greater broadband access to hardware, software, and connectivity. I certainly think there’s some interesting statistical data that could be collected by parties that are savvier than I, but until then, I – and the rest of the blogosphere will be left to wonder whether we’re contracting or expanding. As for the larger quandary of whether the changing field is a good or bad thing, I’ll take the safe route here: everything evolves. Not everyone can write a recurring narrative – and that’s fine. Some others may not be able to fit their thoughts into 500 character equations – and they shouldn’t have to. Creativity is best expressed in the format that the mind wants, not in some pre-ordained design. In any case, it’s certainly something interesting to watch.

Read the ABC article here: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/blogging-peaked-facebook-posts-twitter-tweets-growing-easier/story?id=10088992