Michael: Lights for Christmas

Why some trees remain
Among the devastation
Is because they do.

Monday, November 19, 2018

As ridiculous as age related goals are, I have one; compete in a 100k while I’m 60. That goal entails one of those paradoxical thrill/dread propositions; in this case possibly running (that’s already looking on the bright side - this is a pun - far more likely is stumbling in a zombie like state) in the dark.

So far in life my experiences with darkness after being out in the wilderness all day have not been good ones. Its meant that somewhere I made a mistake. I either started too late, over estimated my abilities, or got lost, and in some instances; all three. I’ve never planned to be out after dark.

I travel through the woods to see places so the idea of having only a small spotlight to shine on a very small area is antithetical to my reasons for fast packing.

So ideally I’d prefer to start at the crack of dawn and finish before sundown. But I realize I need to be prepared for the possibility that I may need to move through the darkness if I’m going to complete this race.

And that’s where the plus side of this goal comes into play. As a newbie Ultraspire Immortal I get to purchase Ultraspire products at a substantially discounted price. And that makes it much easier to indulge in one of my favorite trail related activities; trying out trail products. In this case I’m going to start doing a little night training with the Lumen 170 2.0 and  Lumen 600R And just to make it a little more worthwhile I’m going to make it a family affair by bringing the wife and dog along.
Once I’ve given these lights a go, I’ll let you know what I think of them. The claim is that lighting has really improved from decades ago. I sure hope so, though I’m also hoping I won’t have to make use of either one of these gizmos after the 100k starts.