As I start this post in the pre-sunrise hours of Wednesday morning, I sit on 9.02 miles hiked so far this week and 287.50 miles since the start of the 2022 Not Dead Yet Comeback Special on September 19th.
With a 5-mile hike under my belt on Monday, I started Tuesday’s hike feeling good (enough) and optimistic that this week’s schedule and weather forecast could have me closer to a 30-mile week rather than my standard 25 and change. Then I saw Saruman the White1 and his bride hiking in the distance2
One of the only things I have grown to dislike when hiking is passing a hiker or hikers from behind. Unlike mountain biking, the speeds are slower or much more even, so passing seems to take forever, and there’s an uncomfortableness to it that I like to avoid. And if it’s a woman hiking solo, especially on one of the more remote trails, forget about it! I look for an alternate trail or turn around and save both of us the trouble3.
Anyway, I saw them up ahead and knew there was no bail-out trail to lead me in another direction, so I dug in, passed them, said hello, and then did my best power hike (which is very similar to my Rage Hike™) away from them.
As I was nearing the steep sand hill in the wrong counter-clockwise direction, I felt an unfamiliar pain in my right shin. It felt sort of like a shinsplint, but since the last time I had a shinsplint was roughly 1983, I just know it hurt.
I slowed down, then stopped and did some stretching. It was still hurting, and at this point, I was 2 miles into a 4-mile loop. So, I tightened my bootlaces and hiked on, hoping the pain in my shin would abate.
It did not.
I finished up my four miles and headed home to get shit done; later, a combination of ice, Advil, and two pints of Founder’s Four Giants helped me relax. It did virtually nothing for the pain, but I was indeed relaxed. Fuck.
Taken with D4 looking for birds.
I went to bed, hoping the pain would be gone in the morning. It was not. Walking is definitely better, but there is still some tenderness.
So that brings me full circle to the start of this post. Except now the sun is up, I’ve had too much coffee, and I still can’t decide if I should make myself rest or push through whatever is going on with my shin.
On the one hand, I often take one day off a week; maybe today will be the day. On the other hand, what if taking a day off starts a landslide of depressive slack that puts me back in the Bed of Torment for weeks to come? On the other hand (yes, more hands) what if I do the hike, make it worse, get laid up for months, and miss out on whatever goal I’ve yet to actually set for myself?
I believe my compromise is this; for my outdoor time, I will go to Meridian Park for a photo creep. If, and only if, my shin is feeling good, I will do a very leisurely hike on the trails there when I’m done shooting. Then, I will do more icing and hope to return to the trails the rest of the week and hit my weekly 25+ mile goal.
Several hours later…
I stuck to my Meridian Park plan; I did a short photo creep in some wonderfully foggy and dreary conditions while looking for birds. I saw a Chickadees, but things were so dark and foggy that the D4’s autofocus was having trouble doing its job. So after a few hours of stumbling around and my shin muscles feeling relatively pain-free, I ditched the D4 and 600mm for my Fuji Film x70 and did a super low-key lumber around to get about 1.30 miles in. Not my normal 4 to 5 miles but at least I got out and my shin is feeling better.
While wildlife sightings were at a minimum, there were signs that beavers had been afoot, munching on trees, and the fog helped make the mundane look much more dramatic and interesting.
The old, “new to me” Fuji Film x70 has been a joy to use over the past month, and it reminded me of why I love shooting with Fuji. It then got me thinking about why I sold my old Fuji gear!
Then I remembered.
My un-weather sealed X-T10 stopped working due to moisture (condensation?) getting in the body, and it was accidentally replaced by Fuji with a new one; then that one had the same issue. So I used the insurance replacement money (yes, given the conditions I often photograph in, I always get the protection plan when buying a new body for just such a reason) to upgrade to a weather-sealed X-T1.
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I eventually sold the X-T1 and lenses and moved to Nikon mirrorless due to having a shit-ton of adaptable Nikon glass that I use for sports and wildlife.
Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about the long-discontinued x70 for a pocketable walk-around camera, so when I saw a used one available, I sold some old Nikon DX DSLR kit I never used to knock the price down. I’m glad I was looking for the x70 because, unbeknownst to me, at the same time, used Fuji X100 series of cameras are selling for WAY more than they are worth due to some Tik-Tok influencer/moron saying how much she loved hers. Sigh.
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Later.
NOTE: No legit Soiled Sounds Track of The Post today, but if there was one, it would be this:
- Tolkein reference; Saruman the White, also known as Saruman the Wise or the unfortunate-sounding White Wizard, which is little used these days due to sounding a bit too much like masturbatory racist boner material for Michigan’s Proud Boys, whose name, in turn, sounds like masturbatory racist boner material for old racist white guys on the Sex Offender Registry.
- I see this couple almost every time I hike. They are an extremely nice older couple, and I admire their dedication to staying active outdoors.
- For what it’s worth, I mentioned this to Wifey once, and she said that as a woman who has been out on trails alone, she appreciated me taking that into consideration.