It is with some relief I can report that the round of steroids helped. They did not do as well as in the past, so I have to take care to be easy on my back until things settle down.
I had good training efforts over the weekend. Broke up longer workouts into two each day, and stuck to the treadmill most of the time -- both to protect my back. That worked out well. Watched some classic westerns while treading away, so had some fun. If course, the movies were in part filmed in the Alabama Hills!
I will continue to work hard, go long, but go easily. This week the weather is warming again, so I am looking forward to some long and warm efforts outside.
As an aside, I have been asked to post more of my workouts, especially in terms of Death Valley preparation. I will do that. It might even be entertaining to read about. Right now, I am not doing anything particularly special or unusual. Building miles into longer and longer efforts while working in long climbs and descents mostly on roads.
What I do differently from most, is I stay focused on just two things - Death Valley and taking care of my back. They are almost mutually exclusive, but not totally. It is a fine line I walk.
Onward.
"Badwater" Bill
Tujunga, CA
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
What a Pain in the Back!
Well, I set up this blog, so I might as well use it....
I've been feeling a bit frustrated and not entirely in control of my progress toward Death Valley right now. My bad back has flared up. It impacts everything.
Right now I am going through a course of steroids. This reduces the inflammation and gives me a fighting chance to get back to "normal." Normal for me is a continuous low level of pain. One I can function with, but one I know about all the time. One of these days, the steroids will not work, and I will have to get more spinal injections (a big deal because of where my herniated disk is located) or surgery (a much bigger deal for the same reason).
Chronic pain is, to put it mildly, awful. The constant level of pain I have right now impacts all aspects of my life. Sucking it up and moving on is not really an option. This is not a stubbed toe. It hurts a lot and it hurts all the time. It impacts work because it takes away from focus. It impacts relationships - it is hard to think about someone else when you are distracted by pain. Down time - no position is comfortable. Training time - my escape, the thing I love to do, my time to fly -- it is hard to fly, or even consider a short run when every step brings more pain. Getting ready for a run, short or long, brings dread and fear, not excitement and expectation. Sometimes I put on all my clothes and shoes, walk around a little and end up saying the risk and pain are not worth it today. I cry inside when that happens. Another potentially fun and joyous adventure gone. Another important day of training lost.
I will not give up. I will persist. My goal is too important to me, and to others. One day soon, the pain will subside and I will be able to get ready. If it does not, I will find a way to get ready anyway. Though I say I might be ready to throw in the towel, really I am not. It will take a lot for that to happen. A damn lot. My wife, Deborah, said to me the other day that I am not a quitter. That she has never seen me quit anything. I suppose she is correct. I don't think about it. I don't plan it that way. I just do. In life, as in running, I simply take one step, and then another. Sometimes I step too far, but I step again because it is what I do. I guess I only have to look back at what I did in Death Valley last year to know that stopping is just not an option. It might take me a while to get there, but I do get there - somehow, someway.
How can I stop, when others suffer so much and without choice? Cancer. Catastrophic injury. Addiction recovery. I just look to my family too see what cancer can do. My friend Dick Beardsley has been where no person ever wishes to go, has come back smiling and achieving and standing before us all as an example of true greatness. If I do not quit, if I can achieve some slight greatness because of that, it is only because I stand on the shoulders of Dick and all those who suffer and go on because they simply have no choice but to do so. Those are the heroes I lean on when I am down. They are the wind beneath my wings.
"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." - Tennyson
Onward.
"Badwater" Bill
Tujunga, CA
I've been feeling a bit frustrated and not entirely in control of my progress toward Death Valley right now. My bad back has flared up. It impacts everything.
Right now I am going through a course of steroids. This reduces the inflammation and gives me a fighting chance to get back to "normal." Normal for me is a continuous low level of pain. One I can function with, but one I know about all the time. One of these days, the steroids will not work, and I will have to get more spinal injections (a big deal because of where my herniated disk is located) or surgery (a much bigger deal for the same reason).
Chronic pain is, to put it mildly, awful. The constant level of pain I have right now impacts all aspects of my life. Sucking it up and moving on is not really an option. This is not a stubbed toe. It hurts a lot and it hurts all the time. It impacts work because it takes away from focus. It impacts relationships - it is hard to think about someone else when you are distracted by pain. Down time - no position is comfortable. Training time - my escape, the thing I love to do, my time to fly -- it is hard to fly, or even consider a short run when every step brings more pain. Getting ready for a run, short or long, brings dread and fear, not excitement and expectation. Sometimes I put on all my clothes and shoes, walk around a little and end up saying the risk and pain are not worth it today. I cry inside when that happens. Another potentially fun and joyous adventure gone. Another important day of training lost.
I will not give up. I will persist. My goal is too important to me, and to others. One day soon, the pain will subside and I will be able to get ready. If it does not, I will find a way to get ready anyway. Though I say I might be ready to throw in the towel, really I am not. It will take a lot for that to happen. A damn lot. My wife, Deborah, said to me the other day that I am not a quitter. That she has never seen me quit anything. I suppose she is correct. I don't think about it. I don't plan it that way. I just do. In life, as in running, I simply take one step, and then another. Sometimes I step too far, but I step again because it is what I do. I guess I only have to look back at what I did in Death Valley last year to know that stopping is just not an option. It might take me a while to get there, but I do get there - somehow, someway.
How can I stop, when others suffer so much and without choice? Cancer. Catastrophic injury. Addiction recovery. I just look to my family too see what cancer can do. My friend Dick Beardsley has been where no person ever wishes to go, has come back smiling and achieving and standing before us all as an example of true greatness. If I do not quit, if I can achieve some slight greatness because of that, it is only because I stand on the shoulders of Dick and all those who suffer and go on because they simply have no choice but to do so. Those are the heroes I lean on when I am down. They are the wind beneath my wings.
"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." - Tennyson
Onward.
"Badwater" Bill
Tujunga, CA
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Death Valley Express
The Death Valley Express is the name I have given to my attempts at single or multiple crosssings of Death Valley to Mt. Whitney. Death Valley Express II will start on August 8th 2011 at 6:00 PDT.
The name Death Valley Express also comes from the rich history of Death Valley - the famed twenty mule teams that took borax out of the valley to the west. Two wagons, a trailing water-tank, a horse, and twenty mules made up the iconic image of a "Death Valley Express."
This journey will be a single crossing from Badwater Basin to Mt. Whitney. It includes the extreme temperatures of this region, arduous climbs out of Death Valley, Panamint Valley, and from Owens Valley. My five person crew will make sure I am safe, watered, and fed - and most of all give me the best possible chance at completing my journey.
Because of a seriously herniated lumbar disk, I will be walking most of the way. But, the very fact that I am making this attempt at all has taught me a valuable lesson -- to never, ever give up because dreams do come true.
I am often asked why a solo effort and not participate in the now famous Badwater Ultramarathon race? Two primary reasons. First and foremost, I enjoy the environment, the challenge, and just being with myself -- hearing nothing but my footsteps and the sound of silence. Last year, I was paced at night for a time by a young fox, a definite high point. That would not have happened on the crowded roads during the race. Also, the Badwater Ultramarathon has become an elite race with high qualifying standards and a recently reduced cut off time. With these changes and my bad bad. I can no longer meet the standards to be in the official race. So, I pit myself against the distance and the environment alone with no pacers and no racers to distract me, only an outstanding and supportive crew to see to my safety and needs.
Follow me and Team Badwater Bill here as we make our way across the desert. Something interesting will surely happen!
An account of my first attempt at a double crossing is here: http://deathvalleybill.blogspot.com/
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