Today was an "exactly 3mph" day, as I did only ten miles from 8:42AM to 12:02PM, i.e., 200 minutes. You'll recall that I wanted to ease off after yesterday's 16-mile trek; today, I had 22 pounds in my backpack (yesterday's load plus a 3-pound dumbbell and the single-volume edition of Bill Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy-- the first book of which is titled The Golden Compass here in the States and Northern Lights elsewhere*). I'm pretty sure this extra weight helped slow me down. As I stare at my thick waistline, Mother Nature's lesson on the relationship between body weight and mobility is not lost on me.
The heavier backpack has, alas, introduced a new problem: the left strap seems to put too much pressure on the front of my left shoulder, which makes it painful for me to rotate my left hand and to lift that arm (e.g., to scratch my head). I think this nuisance will be easy to rectify: I just need a bit of tough foam padding to slip under the strap; this will both relieve the direct pressure and redistribute it over a wider area.
A problem not mentioned yesterday-- cover your eyes, ladies-- is crotch-related. I'm wearing Spandex biker pants inside my sweatpants to keep my inner thighs from chafing. This strategy has been largely successful: the thighs suffer not, and I don't need to pay extra for magical ointments and poultices. Unfortunately, the Spandex pants introduce a different set of problems: the seams, which roughly follow the fold of the hip, are thickly sewn and produce chafing of their own where the inner thigh joins the, uh, rest of the body.
I may need to find a pair of Spandex or Lycra pants that aren't woven the way biker pants are-- I may need Spandex walker's pants. This is one of those issues that has to be taken care of quickly: walking anywhere from 15 to 30 miles per day will mean taking almost 30,000 steps per day, which is 30,000 opportunities to experience crotch-related pain. I need to allow the current problem to heal a bit so I can begin the walk without fear of unnecessary bloodiness.
Write in with ideas if you have them.
*This was done with the first book of the Harry Potter series as well: JK Rowling's original title for the first book, the one seen in UK stores (and in Korea, too-- Korea sells both US and UK versions of the Harry Potter series), was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Why this was changed from Philosopher's Stone to Sorceror's Stone (the US title) is beyond me. Do the Brits think we have no idea what a philosopher's stone is? Or is it something more insidious: do American publishers think we have no idea what a philosopher's stone is? Politically speaking, it wouldn't be the first time that one sector of the American public arrogantly thought another sector was stupid.
Even more confusing is the change in the Pullman book's title. What was wrong with the phrase "Northern Lights"?
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4 comments:
My cycling shorts have a chamois insert for that area. Is 'chamois' the right word? The originals were leather and used for squeegeeing water off a freshly-washed car. Mine isn't leather but is smooth and provides a tiny bit of padding (more important for cyclists, I guess).
Ah, I am not using my cycling shorts - how about I mail them to you and you can wear them - doesn't that sound like a great idea?
Screw the shorts, man. Just add a big tub of Crisco to your pack and you'll be all set.
Go nekid.
Might sound funny, but I agree with Chaz Stevens....
I shave my crotch and wear loose shorts with no undergarments. I have absolutely no problems. I did have rashes before I started shaving. Today I finished 10 miles without a hitch.
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