December 22, 2009

When we moved to Colorado, we anticipated celebrating our first white Christmas. No snow fell that year - I think the temperature was in the 50s. As a new hire at the newspaper, I "volunteered" to work on New Year's Eve. There are no days off for the news. The next year, I said I would work on Christmas Eve. Why not? I already was supposed to work on Christmas Eve day. That year, there was a historic blizzard and we got snowed into our house in Monument (just north of Colorado Springs). The snow blanketed our VW bug - we only had a one-car garage - and drifted up to the bottom of our roof. I couldn't make it into work that Christmas Eve, our friends couldn't share Christmas dinner with us. In fact, we didn't go anywhere for a few days, but were the first car following the snow plow up our dirt road.
My expectations can be huge - especially this time of year. I'm learning to release them, to be alert and open to the unexpected. I'm a list person. At the end of the day, I like to check things off my list, whether actual or mental. I've even been known to add items to my list that I've already done just so I can check them off! But I've found that if I am willing to toss my list aside, the unexpected can be a wonderful surprise - the chance to spend time with a friend, to help out someone in need, to do something fun with my husband and/or daughters. The list will still be there - ready to finish another day.
The unexpected can happen at any time. There's no sense in preparing for it...wouldn't that make it something that's expected? So here's to the unexpected this Christmas!

December 12, 2009

I climbed Mt. Whitney in the summer of 2005 - just before my daughter left for college. We hiked the 22-mile round trip in one day with my daughter's friend and her mother (who happily is my friend). I'll never forget the looks on the girls' faces when we went to the ranger station to pick up our permits and the ranger handed us black plastic "waste" bags, and she wasn't talking about our trash. One of the girls pinched the bag between her thumb and forefinger. The majority of the Mt. Whitney hike is done above the tree line, so there is not much privacy anyway. The ranger said that the helicopters didn't have time to clean out the porta-potties at the summit campground as they were being used to fight fires. We were encouraged to pack out our waste bags. =O
Some have asked about the "toileting" facilities on Mt. Kilimanjaro. I know that it is a well-traveled trail like the Mt. Whitney trail. Permits are required on Mt. Whitney to lessen the human impact, and guides are required on the Mt.Kilimanjaro trail for the same reason. I have been told that porta-potties are placed at strategic locations along the Mt. Kilimanjaro trail. Kind of ruins the mystique for me, but...when I am hiking that trail, I'm sure I will choose practicality over mystique!

December 2, 2009

When my girls were little, they liked to put on all of their dresses at the same time. It would be so funny to see them bundled in stacks of clothes. They would peel off a layer at a time until they were down to just one dress.
We went shopping for our Mt. Kilimanjaro layers the other day. By the time we reach the summit, we are supposed to be wearing at least four layers of clothing - a base layer of long underwear (top and bottom), a second, thicker layer of long underwear (top and bottom), pants, a fleece jacket and finally, waterproof jacket and pants. No cotton is allowed. That doesn't include socks, boots, hats and gloves. I have heard that on the final summit day, hikers don every stitch of clothing they have brought with them. I hope I can walk!

November 26, 2009

My mom died at home on Thanksgiving day 1977. She was 46, barely a month shy of her 47th birthday on Christmas day. She had battled non-Hodgkins lymphoma for nearly a year. We were hopeful at first that she would survive, but after a hard summer, there was no avoiding fall's steady decline, and by the time Thanksgiving came, we knew she was going to die any day. Cancer has a way of "preparing" you for death. After watching my mom waste away and fall into a coma, her death was almost a relief. She must have experienced excruciating pain, but I never knew. My parents protected my sister, brother and me from that even though we were all young adults at the time.
We may have been prepared in a sense for her death, but we were far from ready for the aftermath. As young adults, we were poised to spread our wings, but within a year there really was no nest to leave, no home we could point to as having left behind. My dad sold our house and remarried. I graduated from college, married and left the S.F. Bay Area. My older sister relocated to Southern California after completing her teaching credential. My younger brother continued at UC Berkeley.
I was cleaning out a drawer the other day, and came across my mom's obituary in the Montclarion. In the photo, my mom is smiling and wearing a blond wig. The newspaper didn't do a very good job of cropping the photo, and you can see pieces of the rest of the family. My dad's eye is to my mom's left, my brother's shoulder is on her right. My sister and I stand behind her. Our faces are cut off. I think it's the last picture the five of us took together.
The headline describes my mom as a "women's activist." To me, she was just my mom, and even after 32 years, I still miss her.

November 19, 2009

Workouts aren't always when or what you think they will be. Yesterday, I helped my 22-year-old daughter pack up a van and move to a townhome. She is small, but strong having worked as a kayak guide and SCUBA instructor since last April. Lugging, lifting and pushing those kayaks, carrying weights and tanks and pulling students through the waves was clearly better than my twice a week gym workouts. I stood back while she and her friend lifted mattresses, dressers, a book shelf and a small couch into the van and up the stairs of their new home. Unfortunately, her friend had to leave early and I had to help Julie get the seats back into the van - this was no minivan, but a van she had borrowed from work meant to carry fifteen people. Those bench seats needed to be wrestled back into the van and locked into place with a metal bar. My daughter had no problem hefting the seats up and into the van. Me, on the other hand.....
Last Saturday, I invited my 17-year-old to hike at Torrey Pines State Reserve. For some reason, my daughters feel the need to "best" me in physical exercise at one time or another. It must be some part of their rite of passage into womanhood or something. =O Anyway, my youngest has very long legs and easily outstrode me the entire time. She was always a little bit ahead, and when I would jog to catch up, she would speed up herself and accuse me of cheating. ha ha She overtook my friend as the fastest walker I know. The next day she was sore.
I went on my usual Sunday bike ride. =) Guess the old mom still has something - wonder where they get their competitive side from????LOL

November 13, 2009

So I found out last weekend that there are two main reasons why hikers do not summit Mt. Kilimanjaro - a) they are not in shape or b) they are not dressed appropriately and are too cold. I get cold so easily I can just picture myself swaddled in everything I brought, hat piled on hat, wool gloves pulled over mittens, pants straining over layers of long underwear - my eyeballs hardened like the grapes my daughters put in the freezer. A new obsession for me - will I bring warm enough clothes or will I be denied the summit as I shiver along the trail? =O
I "hiked" to the base of a waterfall last Saturday. It was more like a scramble up boulders and loose shale. Sliding back down was worse, the butt of my jeans muddied, my quads trembling, but I didn't care - I made it alive with no broken bones. My two worst fears - confrontation and steep downhills - maybe I should just narrow it to one - confronting steep downhills.

November 6, 2009

My friend and I were watching a body boarder in Solana Beach. There was a lot of time between sets, and the body boarder spent most of the time bobbing on the surface of the ocean. It was a beautiful day, sunshine and palm trees, pelicans diving for fish, and he did manage to catch a few amazing waves. Watching the body boarder, my friend and I started talking about waiting. It seemed that the body boarder spent 90 percent of his time waiting, 10 percent of his time riding an exhilarating wave, rushing through the water, foam curling behind him, salt spray stinging his face. At the end of each ride, he would immediately turn his board and paddle back out to wait again. We recognized a parallel to our lives and the amount of time we spend waiting for that next big wave, the excitement that's over all too soon. What sustains us in the waiting? Is the rush of a good wave enough to keep us bobbing on the surface? For how long? What exactly am I doing in the waiting?
It will take six days to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro next summer - so the experience will not be as short as catching a wave, but when considered in the scheme of preparation, it probably is less than 10 percent of the overall experience.
Being a goal oriented person, I haven't always taken the time to revel in the preparation, to reflect on where I am in the "Here and Now" whether it's training to run a half-marathon, writing a novel or raising my daughters. I hope this time will be different, and I will learn to appreciate the journey along the way.

October 29, 2009

Some specifics on the climb: At 19,340 ft., Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa. It is in the country of Tanzania. There are several different routes up to the top which one website describes as "basically like a long hike." Most of the way is a dirt trail passing through numerous micro-climates. At the top, there usually is some snow to walk across, and we will be visiting the crater on our descent which looks absolutely gorgeous from pictures I have seen. Traffic on the mountain is limited by the necessity of having to hire a guide, and porta-potties are at strategic locations. We will be following the 7-day Machame route, summiting on the next to last day. The summit day is the hardest - going to bed at 7 p.m., sleeping for four or five hours, waking at midnight to hike, arriving at the summit by sunrise. According to one website, "almost anyone of moderate fitness has a fighting chance of summiting." I hope that will be us! =)

October 21

We are so fortunate to live near Torrey Pines State Reserve. This past Saturday, I walked most of its trials - many overlooking the ocean- with my friend who said we covered seven miles. It sure felt like it, especially since she is probably one of the fastest walkers I know. The reserve is above Torrey Pines State Beach, a popular surfing spot. We decided to get there early as hot weather was predicted. I arrived just before our agreed upon meeting time of 8 a.m. Free parking along the coast highway is at a premium, so when I saw a surfer walking with his board under his arm, I crept along in my car behind him. I don't know if he was simply stretching out his surfing time - maybe he had to work or do chores at home and wasn't anxious to leave or maybe he was enjoying torturing me - but he sure was slow. First, he opened the back of his car and got out an old towel which he used to wipe every last water drop from his board. He laid a surf board cover on the ground and carefully inserted his board into it and zipped it closed. When the surfboard was stowed in the car like its was made out of spun glass, he wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped out of his wetsuit. He pulled on his shorts - one precise leg at a time. He rubbed his legs with his towel. He put on a shirt. Brushed his hair. At least ten minutes had passed by now. Bicyclists in colorful spandex whizzed by in large numbers. Clutches of walkers and runners with IPODS had swerved around my waiting car. Finally, he opened the driver's door, got in, turned on the engine, the backup lights came on and....he signaled for my friend to walk behind him- she had come to look for me. She signaled that no, he should go ahead. With nothing else to hold him back, he reversed out of the spot and drove onto the highway - the parking space was free at last!

October 15, 2009

I never found Deal Or No Deal interesting until I spent 20 minutes on a Stairmaster where the show suddenly became vastly entertaining!

October 14, 2009

Hiked at high altitude on Saturday. Bruce and I did a 4.2 mile round trip hike to Parker Lake in the Eastern Sierras with our daughter Dana, her husband Eric and Eric's parents. Also Dodger Dog! I felt pretty good. A little light headed at first, but drank some water and felt better. The weather was beautiful, the scenery gorgeous.
Last week I went to our Mt. K trip leader's house and found out what she meant when she said we need to wear four layers of clothing (YIKES!) It's not as bad as I thought though. I was picturing waddling up the trail with all my clothes piled on me like our daughter Julie used to do when she was a little girl. She would put all of her dresses on at once - so funny. I also saw pictures of the TABLE AND CHAIRS the porters will be hauling for us as well as the delicious looking food. No dehydrated dinners - YESSSS!

October 6, 2009

My oldest daughter turned 25 on Sunday. Wish I could say her birth seemed like yesterday but it doesn't! =) I do remember how long it was, how shocked I was to see the swollen bellies of women who had already had their babies. I thought my stomach would immediately return to its pre-pregnancy size as soon as my baby popped out. Twenty five years ago natural births were all the rage. Doctors were suspect. I reviewed a book for the newspaper (was working as a reporter at the time) on the evil black doctor bag. I didn't go so far as to dismiss my doctor, but I did have a "natural" birth in the hospital, no I.V. drugs. Let's see, labor lasted about 20 hours, we will be taking six days to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. If I add in my other two pregnancies and labor, I might find some sort of correlation.

October 2, 2009

Went on a "mini" run this morning. The first time running has felt good since completing the August half marathon. Didn't even go two miles =) Later went on a kayak tour with Julie and my parents - my dad is 82! The water off La Jolla was like glass. We managed to tip over on the way in though - in a wave that was probably five inches high - ha ha. Too funny! Good thing my dad was not in the kayak with me. Not sure how this prepared me for next summer's climb. I did use it to justify a huge Mexican dinner with margaritas and tons of chips. Walking around the San Diego Zoo with my parents on Thursday afternoon in the heat might qualify as climbing preparation. We did see some animals that are native to Tanzania.

Sept. 27, 2009

Totally got a workout at the Chargers game today (Go Chargers!!!!). Took the trolley from Fashion Valley to Qualcomm Stadium. We went in the wrong gate =( and had to circle the entire stadium to get to our section. We were race walking and dodging other fans because we didn't want to miss the kick off. The security was tighter than normal, everyone was patted down, so it took a long time to get in the stadium. Then we had to wind up the ramp all the way to the view section. So sad, the Coast Guard helicopters flew overhead while we were still on the ramp going up. The playoff game in the rain when we had seats near the top row and the Navy jets zoomed overhead was the best! Anyway, we missed the kickoff, still had to climb stairs to the 24th row (saving money on tickets - ha ha). Did a lot of jumping around because the Chargers WON!! So..we were probably at a high altitude (at least 200 feet above sea level) and the sun also zapped our energy. All in all a good day of preparation.

Friday, Sept. 25

I'm not sure how much dragging the dog around the block will help - unless I'm expected to drag something up the mountain and stop at every third tree.
I have read that I do need to work on my core muscle strength and balance, guess the jerking motion towards other dogs will help with that. =)

Training Starts-Sept. 24, 2009

Preparing to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro next summer-I have made it up Half Dome in Yosemite, Mt. Whitney and Pikes Peak, but am thinking this will be a whole other level! Did 15 minutes on the stairmaster at the gym, hiked the trails at Torrey Pines State Reserve.

Climbing a mountain reminds me of so many other things - for instance, my husband and I attended our last back to school night on Tuesday. Our 11th at that high school! Raising three daughters has certianly been a joy and an adventure - no stairmaster would prepare me for it =)