Monday, April 11, 2005
Super Hike
I took part in the 31st Annual Osaka Prefecture Alpine Hike yesterday. It was twenty five miles of insane mountain hiking. It goes over three major peaks (Mt. Nijo, Mt. Katsuragi, and Mt. Kongo) and all the valleys and rolling hills in between. If you look south from my house its basically the entire horizon. It was by far the most physically challenging thing I've ever done. There are shorter courses and places to bail out but there was no way I wasn't going to do the entire thing. I did it by myself and turned into what is supposed to be a twelve hour hike into a nine hour leg burning, blitzkrieg death march. It was just typical Ol' "I got something to prove" Cherokee bullshit. I'll tell you what though, my legs are paying for it today. I can barely walk. I feel like my entire lower body has been run over by a train. Fuck it! I love it! I wouldn't want it any other way! How can you judge yourself if you don't have the battle scars?
That being said, check this out. There are a few people who actually run the entire course. They call it the Mountain Marathon or something like that. Its held on the same day. I saw some of these people. You have to be in super shape just to consider doing this let alone finish it. They are definitely some of the most physically fit people on the planet. A few of them burn out and don't finish. I ended up passing about ten of them along the trail.
By far the greatest thing I saw all day was one of the marathon runners was a mentally handicapped man. Talk about taking a set back and turning it into a positive. That guy has just been added into my short list of heroes. All I can think of is all the people who were born with normally functioning brains sitting in McDonalds fucking up their bodies and talking about all the things they "could've done". From now on whenever I think I can't do something I'm gonna think of that guy. Ya know, sometimes the human race just does something that just smacks you in the face and makes you sit down and see what's up!
I took my Ipod Mini with me. Here's the CD's I listened to on the way.
Danzig- Danzig 1
Grateful Dad- Last Day of Filmore
Modest Mouse- Good News for People Who Like Bad News
Pink Floyd- Momentary Lapse of Reason
Rolling Stones- Beggar's Banquet
Stevie Wonder- Down to Earth
Tom Waits- VH1 Storytellers
White Stripes- B-Sides and Rarities
Jack Johnson- In Between Dreams
That being said, check this out. There are a few people who actually run the entire course. They call it the Mountain Marathon or something like that. Its held on the same day. I saw some of these people. You have to be in super shape just to consider doing this let alone finish it. They are definitely some of the most physically fit people on the planet. A few of them burn out and don't finish. I ended up passing about ten of them along the trail.
By far the greatest thing I saw all day was one of the marathon runners was a mentally handicapped man. Talk about taking a set back and turning it into a positive. That guy has just been added into my short list of heroes. All I can think of is all the people who were born with normally functioning brains sitting in McDonalds fucking up their bodies and talking about all the things they "could've done". From now on whenever I think I can't do something I'm gonna think of that guy. Ya know, sometimes the human race just does something that just smacks you in the face and makes you sit down and see what's up!
I took my Ipod Mini with me. Here's the CD's I listened to on the way.
Danzig- Danzig 1
Grateful Dad- Last Day of Filmore
Modest Mouse- Good News for People Who Like Bad News
Pink Floyd- Momentary Lapse of Reason
Rolling Stones- Beggar's Banquet
Stevie Wonder- Down to Earth
Tom Waits- VH1 Storytellers
White Stripes- B-Sides and Rarities
Jack Johnson- In Between Dreams
# posted by Unknown : 10:23 PM
