Predictably, now that snow has fallen pretty heavily here at the house, I'm finding more time to do indoor "stuff" that I've put off because of an active summer here in Alaska. But then, other distracting and tempting outdoor opportunities present themselves, like Alpine and Nordic skiing.
A recent highlight this year was my trip back to New Jersey to visit family and attend my Wayne Valley High School Class of 1970 40th Reunion. The reunion weekend included attending a WV football game with fellow classmates, hoisting a brew or two with them at local hangouts, attending a very nice formal dinner, and visiting over good coffee and breakfasts. I visited with some high school friends I haven't seen in 35+ years. Especially enjoyable was driving around my home town (Wayne, NJ) with friends and touring where we all lived and noticing how things had changed and in some cases, not changed.
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| My home in Wayne, NJ where I grew up. |
However, what made me feel real old was when my track and cross-country buddies David, Paul, Guy and I had to bushwhack our way through a now heavily forested area behind our school to find the long-abandoned and now overgrown uphill trail that was part of our home cross country course.
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| Myself with Guy, Paul and David on our formerly used cross country trail |
Funny thing, when I first arrived at the reunion weekend I saw everyone as 57/58-year olds and the faces were unfamiliar. But over time I saw the ages peel off of people and reveal the 18-year old faces and smiles I remembered...it was really freaky to see the transformation.
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| Fellow smiling classmates at Wayne Diner for breakfast. |
2010 Trampathon Abroad Update
...nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people. - Letter from Mark Twain to San Francisco Alta California, dated May 18th, 1867; published June 23, 1867
The Mark Twain quote I posted exemplifies many of my thought processes these days and certainly reinforces some of the reasons I decided to put together my 2010 Trampathon Abroad in Europe. Earlier posts go into other details of my trip planning and purposes so I won't describe them here; however, my traveling companion Bob Bowker and I can attest that we had contact with many kinds of people, which was one of our many trip goals. Mark Twain's A Tramp Abroad (1880) was his sequel to his The Innocents Aboard (1869). Both books focused attention on European travel at a defining moment in post-Civil War America. My intent is to reference some of his observations when I write in my blog about my own. This will kind of be exciting because Twain was very verbal and critical of what he saw and experienced in many of the places Bob and I visited, e.g. Paris, Rome, Pompeii, Vesuvius, Paestrum, and Florence. In Venice when Twain first saw gondolas, he thought them, "inky, rusty old canoes manned by mangy, barefoot guttersnipes" ... that sure as hell wasn't my first impression. Yes it's a different era but I'm finding that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Walking and talking brought Twain's Abroad books into being...walking and talking brought my trip to life. It is said that Twain's European adventures sparked his creativity...in my case the trip sparked a greater desire to continue to tour the great cities of Europe and beyond. ...and a little bit of that.
Since my decision last August to back off of distant running, I have been tempted numerous times to change my mind. My tempting is related to my buddies many recent accomplishments and/or planned accomplishments. Here in Anchorage, my friends Neal and Jon recently finished the Zombie Half Marathon and my family friend Mary Rita is finishing her training for the upcoming California International Marathon in Sacramento, CA. I also just learned that my friend, and Boston Marathon qualifier, Mark and his wife have begun to train for a Half Ironman. My Florida tempters John and Bill respectively completed the Florida Ironman and Miami Half Ironman. Another friend here in Anchorage, Casey, finished the Hawaii Half Marathon last June. I was also moved watching this year's New York City Marathon and seeing the many ordinary folks struggling to finish, especially the Chilean runner who survived the collapsed mine incident. As excited as I am for all my friends accomplishments, I can't help but think that I'm missing out because of my August decision.
A previous blog entry explains my decision to back off distance running, which I really don't regret. - - or at least I keep telling myself that. In place of distance training, I'm substituting a more balanced fitness program of swimming, running and strength training. I'm reminded that I promised my 12 year old daughter Hannah that I'd be ready to participate with her in next year's Eagle River Triathlon. The jammer swim suit and goggles are bought and I've scoped out local pools and swimming lessons to teach me how to swim laps without drowning. I'm also hoping the tendinitis I have in my forearms won't cripple my chances to swim effectively. There is, however, one other development that may hinder my plans.
I'll be covering this in more detail when I post entries about my European adventure, but the short story is that since having my corrective heart surgery in January 2009, I continue to have periodic episodes of shortness of breath which cause me to either abruptly slow down when I run or have to stop entirely to catch my breath. Funny thing, it only occurs when I run...never skiing, hiking, or doing heavy chores. It's hard to predict when it happens when I run but it happened once when I was running the Rome Marathon, a few times near the end of the Paris Marathon, and surprisingly not at all when I ran the Madrid Marathon. Things came to a head when I ran the local Humpy's Marathon last August - I was lucky to finish. Since January 2009 my marathon times have slowed down from about 4:15 to over 6 hours...not good. Last week I had a trans-esophageal echocardiogram to determine if my replaced aortic valve is functioning correctly, as my cardiologist Dr. Linda Ireland suggested I have it performed to rule out any cardiac causes for my breathing problems and slower marathon times. Results indicated some anomalies which Dr. Ireland wanted the Mayo and/or Cleveland clinics to evaluate because she wasn't sure of the results or its repercussions. We should get their report in about a week or so. My general physician Dr. John Mues mentioned once before that medical follow up studies have shown that cancer survivors who received radiation treatments to the chest, like myself when at 19 I was treated for Hodgkin s Disease, are increasingly developing asthma. I hoping that asthma is the culprit, and not the aortic valve. If the cardiac test is "normal", then I'll likely see a pulmonary specialist for further assistance. In the mean time, I'll continue to hop along with my new fitness plans....stay tuned!
