Michael: Decisions

The two tayras leaped
Like confused weasels before
Bounding off the road

Friday, June 19, 2015.

Solving the puzzle of an endurance event, like Monday’s Volcan Baru trek, is extremely rewarding. Not only does it mean I asked myself the right questions, but even better, I gave myself honest answers.

Questions like:

Am I physically prepared?
What pace can I maintain?
What are my nutritional and hydration needs?
How often should I eat and drink?
What equipment should I carry?
What shoes and clothes should I use?
When should I start?
How am I going to get to the trailhead and back?
Should I set a bail out time?
Can I bail out?
What would I do differently?
What did I do right?
Where’s the best place to get pizza if I accomplish what I set out to do?

As a caveat, I like to challenge myself by bringing as little as I feel is necessary to accomplish the task. So, for example, when I’m done, if I only have one squeeze of water and one nibble of food, I feel I’ve done it right.

And with a few minor exceptions, I did the Monday volcano adventure right.

If I were to do it over I’d make two small changes:

 1. I’d stash more water. I started with a liter and a half and had a liter stashed on the trail. I ran out of water with 4k to go and was lucky it was misty and cool. Not stashing more water was even a worse decision since the last 13k is downhill when carrying and ingesting nutrients and fluids is easier .

2. I would start earlier. I finished at 5:30 with about an hour of light to spare, which was just as I planned. But everything had to go perfectly. If I had fallen and gotten hurt, or needed to stop to rest for any length of time, there was a good chance I would’ve been finishing in the dark, greatly increasing my risks and causing Kimme additional stress.

I started at 6 a.m. right at daybreak. The plan was to start at 5:30 and I should’ve stuck to it. But I was feeling very confident, which is fine, but I shouldn’t have let that cloud my judgment and stray from my plan.

Otherwise, I’m quite pleased with how I solved the riddles of the volcano trek. And now to figure out the next challenge.