Doing a little class through work. Leadership thing.

Led by people I truly love but who are absolute sadists when it comes to PT.

Hiked something between 4-5 miles yesterday, up and down a mountain.

They were kind though, and let us take the trail that ended with the steps to the top.

300, remarkably uneven, steps.

Wearing 50 pound, ill-fitting rucksacks.

Carrying fucking PHONE POLES THE ENTIRE WAY.



I’m 42 years old…The ibuprofen isn’t working


Self-flagellation because I volunteered for this, knowing…and that’s not even the hardest day.



What’s the dumbest physical shit you’ve gotten yourself into in recent memory?

It’s been a few years, but after working off about 160 lbs of ass and gut I decided to see just how far I could push myself at the ripe old age of 59.

Set out for a 75 mi bike ride on my Mtn Bike, ended up doing a touch over 80. Previous longest ride had been just shy of 62 mi the month before.


Even though I took a pretty good spill with a mild head injury around the halfway point, I felt surprisingly good when I finished. Might have been the concussion though…

About an hour after getting home my legs stiffened up so bad I could barely walk. Oddly enough, the only thing that helped was another 5 easy miles on the NordicTrack. I guess that “cool down” period after serious exertion is important after all.

If I pick up brass for 15 minutes my legs are sore for a week.

Back was I was young (like early 40's) my hiking buddy and I did a 32 mile Canadian wilderness hike in Pukaskwa National Park. Because the trail goes out and back with no loop, we hire a boat to take us out to the starting point and spent 4 days hiking back out to the park headquarters where we started from. The trail was rugged and only marked with rock cairns, much of it right on the lake Superior shoreline. It was an incredible experience and we saw parts of the park few people reached because of the distance if it was hiked out and back. This was before things like a satellite communication tool, so rescue would have been a challenge as we had no means of letting anyone know we needed it. Definitionally a trip of a lifetime.

Puksawa hike by Brad Benzing, on Flickr

Packed an elk 1/4 off of a mountain side with 4' blow down timber and grease brush. The slope degree was 25% I would guess. Lots of side hill and there was no trail. It was a hell of a hike in and worse coming out even though it was mostly down hill. A tough creek crossing in the bottom to boot. That was a hellofa ordeal. Did similar more than once. That was the last one. And the worst.

My men's group (www.mensalliancetribe.com) brings physical fitness into the spiritual realm. It is a super combination. In the creed, the last statement is "I will finish strong!" If you can remember that one statement, as you work hard this week, you'll be energized when the workout gets tough. You're doing a good thing.

Back in the 1980s before the permits and Disneyland atmosphere, my wife and I hiked from our camp on the Yosemite Valley floor to Half Dome, and back to camp in one day. Brutal 15-16 mile round trip hike, 5000 ft elevation change. Left camp at 5:30am and limped back at 7:30pm. I climbed to the top of Half Dome, my wife didn't. Let's just say the experience was not "fun". We never tackled a hike like that again.

I day-hiked the Pemi Loop in Lincoln NH when I was 30. This was a 31.5 mile day hike with 8-9 4,000ft+ peaks and 9,000 feet of elevation gain. Took me just under 15 hours.

Tried this same loop again when I turned 50. Had to bail out at the 1/2 way point and spent the next week recovering. (fortunately there is a trail that takes you straight down and out at the half-way point)

On the hike out and I kept thinking of Harry Callahan and his "A man has got to know his limitations" quote.

A little over 25 years ago, I started a new job. Within a week, one of the team there asked me, "hey, do you ride a bike at all?"
I hadn't ridden a bike in over 10 years at that point. But he and the gang talked me into going mountain biking with them. They'd go every Wednesday, almost regardless the weather.

So I got a bike. And I went. And the night I went was one of their "long ride" nights. The terrain around here is great for mountain biking... if you're in shape. I was not!

At some point, I just stopped. I stared at the hill in front of me (a power line right-of-way) and tried to come up with a plan. My new friend who talked me into this came bouncing down the hill toward me and asked, "you okay, man?" I said something like, "dude, I'm beat. I'm out of shape, out in the woods, and out of energy." He looked at me and said boldy, "you're coming up this hill!"

And then he spun his bike around, grabbed my handlebars, and started pedaling... somehow dragging my bike and me along with him. Upwards. I never felt so weak in my life.

After the ride, one of the other guys asked me how I liked the ride. "Man, I'm whooped! I'm tired, I'm sore, I'm sweaty and probably stinky."
The response: "Yeah? So? Think about it. For the last couple of hours, you haven't thought a thing about work, home, or any of the things that are tough in your life, have you?"

He was right. Mountain biking was a way to forget absolutely everything other than the next 20 yards, and the 20 after that, and so on.

I don't think I've ever worked so hard to have fun.

You asked for dumb:

Three weeks ago, I accidentally went on a 5 mile hike. How can one possibly "accidentaly" go on a 5 mile hike you ask?

It starts with a 2 mile hike that I decided would be a perfect opportunity to break in my new boots. Then my son, our dog, and I looked at the map on the trail a mile in and decided to go right instead of left. Mile 3 was when I noticed my heel slipping in my boot and it just got progressively worse resulting in a bloody fucking mess on the back of my right foot that is almost healed at this point. At 58, things don't heal as quickly as they used to.

Back in 2008, a friend of mine in our bike club asked if I would like to ride the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez back up here to Nashville. It was a couple of months before my 46th birthday. It sounded fun but I had a few reservations, particularly with the distance. He assured me that I could do it with no trouble and that we would keep the pace at a very reasonable level. His son had some work to do near Natchez so he drove us down and we set off on the adventure.

Because of when his son needed to be down there, we did this ride as July was turning into August. In Mississippi. Temps were 101° - 103°. Humidity was off the charts. We rode 468 miles in 4.5 days for an average of 104 miles per day. It was miserable and yet it was checking off a bucket-list item. I actually had a good time overall. The day after we got back, I could hardly get out of bed. I felt horrible. I apparently finished the ride on motivation alone and was now suffering from both body and heat exhaustion.

I couldn't even try to ride a bike for about a week and it took me a month to feel mostly normal on a bike again. However, I was really glad that I did it and we still talk about it to this day.

You specifically said, “self-flagellation,” so this probably doesn’t count. Years ago, I served as a medic on a major fire on the Salmon-Challis, Middle Fork of the Salmon River. I was spiked out at a camp when the weather changed. What was hot and dry turned cool, rainy, and socked in with fog.

Word came down that two or three hand crews were to be bumped down to the spike camp. Air ops were grounded because of low/no visibility. The decision makers wasted the entire morning pondering what to do about the lack of sufficient food and water for the incoming crews. Then, with about half the day gone, they decided to hike out sufficient firefighters down to base camp such that the crews coming into spike would be covered.

They asked me to come down with the crews as medic. The guy leading us out, never stopped. Never stopped once. We hiked out an estimated 26 miles without any kind of stop to adjust boots or socks, or just take a break. Finally, with a few miles yet to go and well after dark, one firefighter just fell out and sat down on the side of the trail we followed.

He kept saying, “I thought they would stop somewhere along the way.” He pulled off his boots and socks and he had silver dollar
-sized blisters on the balls of both his feet. I took care of him the best I could and the two of us hobbled, an arm over my shoulder, into base camp 45 minutes or so after the others.

I had good fitting, well broke in boots, but I bruised a tendon just about the instep of my left foot. There was a knot on that tendon that took every bit of two years to go away.

Some people find themselves in leadership positions, but don’t really possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities to lead others. I’m pretty sure you all knew that.

I might add, that afternoon, the skies cleared and there were helos overhead as we hiked out.

About age 56 wife (52) and I are visiting friends in Florida. We are all active people in good shape and decide its time to try learning how to surf.
So we reach out via the local surf shop for an instructor for joint lessons.
In retrospect we picked a day with horrible conditions. But we didn't learn this until maximum pain had been inflicted.
Wife went first. Instructor had to help her get the board out to where waves could be caught. This should have been our first clue. After a bit she comes in to transition over to me.
She tells us, "Guys, its bad, I mean really bad", as she looks like a drowned kitten.
I make a half dozen attempts to get the board past where the waves are breaking. Getting rolled every time. I finally say, F this and call off my instruction. Our friend seeing what the two of us had endured took a pass. I was absolutely gassed out.
We then say to the instructor, so show us how you would get the board out to where needed in these condtions.
It took him three attempts getting rolled twice.
Yeah, I'm going with it was a bad conditions day to pick up surfing.

At first your little trip didn't sound too bad. Then you mentioned the phone poles. F that!

Probably the roughest thing I've done to myself of that nature was solo hiking barefoot 10 miles round trip of sandy beach out to Fort McRee outside of Pensacola. I'd always wanted to do it, and one trip when we were down there I had some extra time so I decided to make it happen. I only had 2 half liter water bottles (should have had like 4x that much), it was hot as balls, and I tore the hell out of my feet. I hurt for days afterwards. And once I got out there I discovered that there really isn't anything to see that you can't see just fine from the opposite side of the pass at Fort Pickens. I'll admit that I'm glad to be able to say I did it, though.

In younger days, I was on a Yooper Search and Rescue unit. Swamps. Cliffs. Blizzards. Long days at -10. All day in rough terrain on ATVs. Rainy cold nights. And Skeeters. I would come home scratched, bruised, cut, bug bit, exhausted and filthy.
Some of the best work I ever did!

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:
Back in the 1980s before the permits and Disneyland atmosphere, my wife and I hiked from our camp on the Yosemite Valley floor to Half Dome, and back to camp in one day. Brutal 15-16 mile round trip hike, 5000 ft elevation change. Left camp at 5:30am and limped back at 7:30pm. I climbed to the top of Half Dome, my wife didn't. Let's just say the experience was not "fun". We never tackled a hike like that again.

Did that hike last year. It was great and I felt good through most of it. The next day or three I was sore. Hurt to get in and out of the car the next day. Ended up running into two girls in their twenties on the return part a few times. Near the end, one of them commented to the lady I was hiking with and me that they hoped they could do that when they were our age.