Being that the weather has finally improved, I decided to go ahead with the Birthday Challenge and test out the 34 year old body. Amazingly I finished my self-imposed challenge, but not without quite a bit of pain. Most of that pain was in my hands, feet and butt (of all places) due to the cold temperatures. Fortunately, I am suffering no long-term effects. Didn't loose any fingers or toes, but my but is still a little sore, two days afterward!
The temperature at the beginning of the day was somewhere south of 40 degrees and by the end of the challenge my car thermometer read a balmy 35 degrees. Other than that the weather was near perfect, with only a slight breeze on the lake and sunny skies after morning fog.
I started out by biking counter-clockwise around Lake Washington (maybe 50 miles?). Due to the cold conditions I wore just about all of my bike gear and even wore two pairs of socks. I was in full bike nerd regalia! The biking went well except for the bitingly cold wind on my face and the associated numb fingers and toes. Obviously, I need some more gear! A face mask, shoe covers and chemical hand warmers would have made the ride far more comfortable. Time: 3:18
Transition/Aid Time: 29 minutes
Next, I unloaded the kayak from the car, reloaded the bike and paddled off into Lake Washington. The plan was to paddle around Mercer Island, taking the shortest route possible. This is the stage which most worried me since I have never paddled around Mercer Island and have never paddled the assumed distance of 14-15 miles. Just as I launched, a small fleet of sailboats sailed by which further unnerved me. If sailboats are going sailing it usually means there is going to be some wind on the water! Amazingly, the paddle went smoothly until the last hour or so when my but went numb and I had to negotiate some choppy water with a slight headwind. The real kicker came when I landed and went to stand up. My butt muscles, gluteus maximus and/or minimus, were so tight that I could hardly stand straight and bending over was extremely difficult. I can only guess that the cold weather in conjunction with the tired butt muscles (from biking) and the long sit had contributed to a major case of BUTTFREEZE!! Due to the buttfreeze and due to the fact that I had a case of uncontrollable shivers, I took my time re-hydrating and re-fueling before the next stage. Time 3:26
Transition/Aid Time: 59 minutes
The final stage: the glorious run which never became glorious was to be a roughly 12 or 13 mile counter-clockwise circling of the perimeter of Mercer Island. Before the challenge I was excited to do the run as it was the only stage which I felt semi-prepared. I have run around the perimeter of Mercer Island on many occassions and felt prepared to weather whatever mental anguish I would have from the day's trials and tribulations. I was however, not at all prepared for the BUTTFREEZE. As I started out running in the cold and the dark (it was after 5:30 PM - that is the beginning of night, around these parts) I quickly realized I couldn't stride normally. My glutes were tight and wouldn't allow me to actually run. My stride was more like a shuffle, the shuffle of an old and worn-out man! Thank goodness, after about a half-hour of shuffling along my glutes warmed up and I was able to really start running. I started enjoying the run as I jogged relatively slowly, south along the western side of Mercer Island. Unfortunately, the run quickly degenerated into a fast walk on the eastern side of Mercer Island as I was afflicted with a serious case of runner's trots. Due to the lack of facilities available I ended up quickly, and sometimes painfully, walking the last 4 or 5 miles to the closest portable toilet.
Time: 2:37
Total Time: 10:52
Total Time Moving: 9:24
To most people this sort of pain and suffering may sound absolutely unnecessary and probably a bit ridiculous, but at least to me and at least on this day, I am glad I did the birthday challenge. Not just because I am the type of individual who gets off on setting goals and accomplishing them. But, rather because sometimes, at least for me, it takes a test of my own physical limits before I truly feel ALIVE. Maybe I am just a superfeeler? This is just a theory I have which originates from something I heard about supertasters. I will not go into it here and now. Maybe later.
Based upon the Birthday Challenge I have concluded the following:
1. I am definately getting older. To truly test this theory I will need to do the same challenge again, sometime in the future. This probably won't happen as I have too many other challenges I would like to do, instead!
2. I would much rather do my birthday challenge during the summer! I might have to do next year's challenge a month or two before my birthday!
4 comments:
I agree I think you sould do it at a different time of the year. Did you ever find a bathroom you could use down on mercer island?
anonymous - I finally found a honey bucket at the MI boat launch.
Wow, good job! I would love to do something like that... hmmm, maybe birthday 28 will have something in store for me. I'm impressed, though, as I don't think I could run one step after sitting in a kayak for that long! Also, I don't think I can go that many hours without talking to anyone. ;)
That's pretty impressive -- I myself never would have even made it through the kayaking. Kind of a cool thing to try once, but I hope you don't get carried away in trying to outdo yourself next year....
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