Map My Ride (Walk) & fitbit

Many of you may be familiar with this cool application.  Here is my morning walking route:

I leave between 5:10-5:15 most mornings with 60lbs. in a Arcterxy RT35 and my Lowa Baffin Pro hiking boots.  The weight is two kettle bells, about 8-10 Vitamin Waters and all of winter accessories for Mount Adams.  Most days, I get the walk done in between 1:40 and 1:48 depending upon humidity, and exercises from the previous day.  The moon is still up and visible that early down in Memphis.  The day is just really beginning.  All the birds are getting going and it is a nice time to be out.

Monday was an unpleasant slog over the same terrain.  It took me nearly 10 minutes longer to complete the same route, without any appreciable reason why.  It was no more humid, windy, etc. than the prior week.  It might have been the 4:44 minutes of sleep.  I am tracking my sleep with fitbit another health technology application with a very cool feature:  I know what time I went to bed; my time to fall asleep; times awakened; time in bed, and actual sleep time.  I get a daily sleep efficiency score and can look at how I did each week against a peer group. 


The 60 lbs. has been an again / off again weight problem for my left knee.  That knee was the one that I was always hitting on the pommel horse in high school and freshman year in college, so it is more sensitive to strain.  When I get back in town later this week, I will downshift the weight for a least a week to see if I can keep it from stiffening up over this distance.  I am really not interested in limping the two miles to the start of the climb, all the way up to Lunch Counter, the summit, the descent and the return to trail head. I do not want to impact the team's performance because I have pursued some DUD behavior in my training and pushed too far, too fast. 

Walk Alone

It is more than just a really great, rich and deep track off The Roots’ How I Got Over release.  It is an encapsulating theme in my preparation for what we will face as a team at the end of July. 

I literally walk alone, whether Memphis or my recent brief times as the city of San Francisco was coming to life and to and from campus while in Spokane. It is me, myself and I day in and day out, step after step.  I also walk alone with my thoughts each and every day, whether in my neighborhood, on the stair climber, riding, or on equipment in various hotel exercise rooms.  Without the motivation of music, which to me, may be more stimulating than anything visual, I am both more aware of my surroundings and at the same time more open to the nagging thoughts from which doubt springs.  When is it hot and at 5:15 in the morning and I have around 5 miles left to go, my mind is open to “What I am I doing?”  At a crossroads whether I add on more distance, or could go straight home – “Cut is short today” might just pop up.  A small ache or pain can be “debated” for relevance and impact. “Will I be ready?” enters my mind every day.  I work through these deliberations and so far have stuck with the daily plan.  Whether it will add to my commitment and readiness when the times comes in July is yet to be known.

Walk alone is how I have moved through many parts of my life, lacking temporal and lasting connections when traveling and working in the early part of my career.  I have not been an outsider or on the fringe of the economy or society in my life, yet at the same time, there is not a natural connection to many but rather the few.  I connect at the individual level, and do not necessarily have natural group affinities.  I have had the pleasure to engage with great individuals in many different circumstances and locales, and yet when away from my home and Ramona, I walk alone through the lives of others in those fleeting moments.

Back in Spokane

I have enjoyed being back in Spokane for Heroic Leadership.  I have been walking everywhere and averaging between 7 and 10 miles per day with my books, computer, etc. 

Unfortunately, the class schedule did not allow me to meet up with the local members of the class.  I have enjoyed visiting more local establishments like Jack and Dan's, Zola, Sante and Pete's, Steelhead, and return stops at Mizuna.

During the course of the reading Heroic Leadership, I have come to see complimentary themes with Hardiness: "Instead of wishing circumstances were different magis-driven leaders either make them different or make the most of them." (Lowney, 2003, pp. 243-44)  I raised connection to the group during our time together.  Both of my summer classes seems to be mutually reinforcing learning, which is an unexpected benefit.

Necessary Downshifting

I have tendency to go "out of the box" strong when bicycling, and the outcome is sometimes good and sometimes not so good.   Over a long distance, I can recover, if I overestimate my constitution on a particular day.  We have a not so good . . .

I had increased my pack weight two weeks back.  Apparently early last week, I tweaked my left knee and I really felt it this morning with 58 lbs. at the start of the weekly in-town morning routine.  There is a small amount swelling, which I have started icing.  Will walk without weight for the next two days and ice before I head up to Spokane for ORGL690.

My enthusiasm got the better of me.  Something I really need to learn from for the balance of my training time and when together in Washington with the team.
 

Climbing Nob Hill - Part 2

What a difference a day makes!  

Taking off yesterday due to a full schedule starting at 7:15 with a presentation by Chanda Beckman, Agricultural Counsel for the Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) in Chengdu, China was better than more urban hiking.  She is a young, professional having served in China for four years now promoting US agricultural interests.   She was full of energy and completely engaging, and a marked contrast with representatives from US Census and Customs and Border Protection who we met with at the end of the day on a more esoteric Ag topic.

Some people like to believe the government is ineffective. Ms. Beckman and her colleagues in the foreign services represent a different kind of commitment to our nation from the military.  The conditions are less dangerous, yet not necessarily more accommodating.  When Ms. Beckman talked about poor air and water quality, and the simple pleasures of drinking water from the tap on this visit to the States, it makes you think about all that we have, and what simple things others due without or have never experienced.

Taking Adrian's advice to get outside, I got out at 6:15 this morning, and did the loop again six times for 5.4 miles of descents and ascents in 1:35 hours.  I felt better overall (no Super Brunello last night).  I enjoy seeing cities come to life with the new day . .  a cook carrying a box of bananas into the Roxanne Cafe, people walking up Powell to go to work at the hotels on Nob Hill, others out with their dogs. Following breakfast down Nob Hill and another ascent, total feet climbed in the morning was about 6300.  

Here is the descent - Powell:

Here is the ascent - Taylor:

I passed a few more homeless people sleeping in doorway recesses on the route today.  Three in total, and none were the same as one from Wednesday who was with a dog.  They were not panhandling, they were sleeping as I walked my route again and again.  I cannot imagine an on-going life on the street, regardless of the underlying causes of the situation.  I know San Francisco is more tolerant and therefore cynics could cite that they flock there to take advantage of city programs. Yet in the most economically powerful country in the world today, it is difficult to understand how we tolerate the loss of these souls, and others around the country.  The "boot straps" argument rings hollow for me, and more so following our reading of Man's Search of Meaning.  This existence lacks meaning and really seems like day-to-day survival - trying to meet the base of Maslow's pyramid, physiological needs.

Without a "Frankl" to help point the way to meaning, what will become of these people?  If there is indifference for the conditions of those on the margins of the economy and society, what does it say about us as a nation and a people?

Climbing Nob Hill - Part 1

This week's business trip to San Francisco may represent the highest spot I will be able to climb before the class trip to Washington.  I am staying at the top of Nob Hill, which is the highest hill in San Francisco, at the Mark Hopkins.

Yesterday, I did five loops of California to Powell to Post to Taylor, which is around 0.90 miles per loop according to Map My Ride, and the elevation gain and loss was around 900 feet each time. California and Post were the flats, Powell the descent and Taylor the ascent. Powell is one of the routes for the cable cars.  The first two were rough but after some Super Brunello burnoff (from the night before at The North Beach Restaurant) and some endorphins, I kind of got into a groove for the remaining three.

I went back down Powell one more time to have breakfast at Kuleto's near Union Square - two eggs over polenta with a spicy marinara sauce.  I usually eat here once a year for some meal when in town. They have consistently good Italian food. 

One final climb, up Powell this time, for a total of around 5400 feet of elevation gain - take that stair climber - before my morning meetings started.

I Am Not a Homeless Person

I walk around 5:15 in the morning every week day that I am not traveling while the temperatures are still in the mid 70's now with relatively mid-level humidity.  I carry my driver's license with me on my morning walks just in case that I need to prove that I am indeed an upstanding citizen of the community.  People can be odd. 

I dress like an upstanding citizen - hiking boots and socks, shorts, even a collared Mountain Hardwear short sleeve technical shirt.  What throws people is the backpack.  I am carrying my black Arcteryx RT35 which is a great bag for these training walks.  Apparently, people are not accustomed to seeing someone in my part of the city with a large backpack walking down the street.  Nevertheless, I look like someone doing what I am actually doing - conditioning for a hike.  I do not consider myself a threatening presence, but on more that one occasion people - men and women have crossed the road at a distance when we have come into eye contact.

It is an odd phenomenon I experience regularly on these walks - I would characterize it as a general lack of common courtesy or acknowledgement.  I pass you on the street, I say "hello".  More often than not, I get a blank stare and no response.  Perhaps their headsets are set too high, perhaps it is to early, perhaps perspiring people make them uncomfortable, or perhaps they do not talk to homeless people for fear of encouraging them to stay in the area.  It is not just walkers or runners.  It is bicyclists and bicycle commuters.  Salutation and mostly silence in return.  I see it when I ride in the city too, but to a less degree.  With other people I come across most mornings consistently, it is like we are seeing each other for the first time - also difficult to fathom. I say "hello", they act surprised and say it back.  I am thinking "I pass you every morning; I am the guy with the backpack; how many people with backpacks are there?"

That early in the morning, there should be an esprit de corps for anyone out and about exercising regardless of proficiency, specific sport, type of footwear, hygiene and fashion sense. We should be united in the community of morning exercise.

Selfishness Kills

Well not really in this case, as I am still writing to tell my brief tale.  Yet I am nonetheless disappointed in myself.  

I have failed Viktor Frankl, Chris Warner and Don Schmincke in less than two weeks into the course.  I have let Viktor Frankl's memory down in his "And there were always choices to make.  Every day, every hour . . ." passage, and not followed Chris Warner and Don Schmincke's guidance on Selfishness.  I have learned nothing from the first few chapters of Ed Viestur's No Shortcuts to the Top:


There was a strong headwind from the west, yet I was making good time.  Damn wind, tired of staring straight into it as a I peddle across the rough asphalt road of southern Shelby Farms.  I put my head down for just a second . . . and I was off the edge of the road into the gravelly asphalt.  I corrected, but the damage was done. I heard the hiss of air escaping that sends dread into new cyclists and makes some experienced ones impatient - a flat!  My front tire was flat - my first of the year. 

I do not get a lot of flat tires because besides the Kevlar side walls on my tires, I am constantly vigilant about my position in the road and the debris on it.  I believe I ride situationally aware and have been fortunate to have never been in a collision with a moving or stationary object, other bikers, animals, road furniture and the like.  I choose to be situationally aware and alert so that I can make minute adjustments to my position relative to the situation.

At the moment before the flat, I chose to be selfish, let me head down for a second to take  break from the wind, which caused me to veer ever so slightly and go off the road.  I did not choose to remain vigilant with every peddle stroke, in every minute of the ride, as extolled by Frankl, and I paid a consequence as a result: lost time to change a flat.  From High Altitude Leadership and No Shortcuts to the Top, such a relatively minor and simple mistake could literally have killed me in the mountains.   


What I took away from the experience is that we can be selfish with not just others but with ourselves. When choosing to do so we are not taking the path Frankl extolled, or practicing the commitment of hardiness.

Who Dares Wins

The motto of the British Special Air Service encapsulates how we have chosen to spend this summer.  Each member of this ORGL689 Leadership and Hardiness class have dared ourselves to be challenged physically, spiritually and mentally in pursuit of something greater than we have today.  Whether we know what the greater "it" is or not is unclear.  For me, it is unclear.  

This summer, we could be team building, building advanced teams, looking at heroic leadership, Renaissance leadership, getting a glimpse of the present day manifestation of the Rule of St. Benedict, or a whole host of other subjects to broaden our minds and experience.  We could even have taken the summer off from academics. Yet, we are enrolled in Leadership and Hardiness now, in this time in our respective lives, for our own reasons.

From Dr. Adrian Popa's first mention of this course on a Saturday morning in my late January ORGL502 residency, I have been interested in the possibilities of what could be.  First, of course, it was the uniqueness of a mountain climbing for someone who grew up in the relative flats of the Midwest.  After going through the work on existentialism, resiliency and hardiness in ORGL502, it clearly became more about further study of these subjects for me.  I checked in frequently to see whether the class was going to take place, and I am glad so many other people had the interest to make it happen in the summer of 2011.

Mount Adams represents the physical laboratory of our learning over the summer, and the metaphorical mountain we each have to climb in order to begin to learn, reflect and start the journey to mastery of the concepts and themes for application in our respective lives.  

We have dared to challenge ourselves.  I hope I choose to make the consistent commitment to meet the challenges we face from the material and our time together on Mount Adams.