Tuesday, November 23, 2010

dirt > pavement

I paused in a parking lot this morning to appreciate the warm touch of the moist morning wind on my face.  Fall is not usually so gentle. The irony of appreciating nature in a parking lot did not hit me until later.

My doc told me yesterday that I needed to get back out on the trail.  "You do better there."  The same doc hadn't wanted me to thruhike this year because she figured she'd be the one who'd have to put me back together afterward.  I may possibly have convinced her that hiking is good for me.  No decision yet on horseback riding.

I can't really disagree with her on the hiking thing.  I do do better out there.  However, nobody pays me to hike.  Some people do get paid to hike, but nobody pays super slow hikers.  It's not like I'd be an inspiration to the masses.  Maybe I'd be an inspiration to paraplegics.  Anyway, I have this paycheck addiction, and I like the idea of retiring eventually, and being able to afford vet care for the old man.  So I work.

I did find a few minutes to go for a walk today, for a wonder.  Haven't done that in a while.  Actually I jogged most of the way, and I found out why jogging shoes are preferred over hiking boots.  My shins hurt.  Also, I had a thought.  (I know!  I'm shocked too.)  The current theory of shoes, with those five toed thingamybobbers?  Says that we didn't evolve to run with big shock absorbers on our feet.  And since our feet don't feel the shock, we do more damage to our other joints.  The thing is?  We also didn't evolve to run ON CONCRETE.  That stuff is death to joints.  If you ask me, if you run without good support you should run on dirt.  I like running on dirt anyway, but I am a well known wimp and also a well known nature freak.  But nevertheless I may have a point.(1)

In other news, work was much better today.  Yay Xanax!  I had several moments when I wasn't in a crisis, and I tried really hard to remember what I usually do in my job, but it didn't work out.  So instead I packed some more and started pulling unused (I hope) cables out of our switch.(2)

After work I stopped by the pharmacy to drop of a prescription, and managed to surprise a real smile out of the pharmacist.  That may have been my favorite moment of the whole day.  So often the people who work the desk are jaded, bored, pissed off, and generally hating everything.  So when I get a real moment of connection, a moment of shared happiness, I love it.  Thank you, pharmacist, for smiling back at me.  You totally made my day.

1)  It's hard to tell sometimes.

2)  Somebody will probably yell tomorrow if I was wrong.  And then I'll know!

2 comments:

  1. You sure that the hard-pack dirt in Africa that is harder than concrete is not harder than concrete? Excuse fail. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. A) Not all of Africa is hard-pack dirt.

    B) What excuse? I'm advocating running on natural surfaces.

    ReplyDelete