[at-l] Pushing to 'new ground' on course... was Re: Sandbagging, etc.

[sloetoe@yahoo.com (Sloetoe)]

### AT-L NOTE: I don't mean this to be repetitive on the threads of a few
months back, but there's some questions at the bottom that benefit from
the context.

--- Brian Hever <bhever@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 2. What I was getting at was responsibility. If you know that you are 
> woefully undertrained (even by your own standards) or if you fail to
> heed the generally accepted medical advice for ultras (that's got to be
worth a couple of replies) 
*** without having experimented on yourself beforehand *** and 
> found to the contrary, then you are acting irresponsibly by entering an 
> organized event (or including the run as the highlight of your spouse's 
> vacation.) 
### I must absolutely agree. But the 'weasel-words' for me in the
statement above are "without having experimented on yourself
beforehand..." How does one experiment without engaging in the very same
behavior we're trying to learn through? There MUST be a first time, or
else we end up with the chicken::egg thang going.
### But what you're getting at is *responsibility*. Can one conduct such
experiments -- pushing the proverbial envelope -- "going beyond..." --
with some idea of responsibility? I think so, but it's hard to apply exact
parameters...

> I am sure that many people will have a different opinion on what 
> exactly is their "responsibility" but if you keel over in front of me on
> a trail, *my* responsibility will compel me to end/delay my trained-for
> race and try to help you survive.
### Yup. I with you 100%. And yes, if I thought your crash/burn were
avoidable, I'd be 100% honked, too.

> My responsibility also tells me to 
> take all possible precautions in order to minimize the risk of my 
> keeling over in front of you.
### Again, I'm with you 100%.

### [Busy day, but giving a little more thought...] Maybe by way of
putting 'responsibility' parameters on the personal experiments, the idea
of your original post -- of traveling with your very own Med Center --
would be one way to think about it. If I enter an event "woefully
unprepared" but pay the entry fee which provisions 'rescue' personnel on
trail (such that I do not impinge on any other runners' performance), then
I may be thought to have discharged my responsibility. If I enter an event
"woefully unprepared" where the 'rescue personnel' are spread thin, and my
crash/burn is either over-taxing these resources or is relying on other
entrants for assistance, then I've *not* discharged my responsibility.
[And since event infrastucture is *usually* spread thin,......]

### Well, anyway, I've had some marvy (horrid) undertrained runs, have
learned lots from each, and have explored much terrain in the land of
Ultra de Minimus. But so far, I've never once let go my *own* sense of
self-sufficiency to where I had to rely on others. And further, I'd
consider such a run an abject failure on my part. (Not that I wouldn't try
to learn from it, mind you.) But I'm so glad that the post was made, and
in its intimate and gory detail, because it reminds me of the fact that,
but for luck and grace, there could go I. The post reminds me to be
cautious that I don't tire to such a degree that my judgment is clouded --
and that I subsequently don't know when to stop. THAT'S the formula for
disaster, and I know I'm subject to it, too.


Grasping,
Sneauxtoe

PS: I'm left wondering how many of us (ultra types and hiker types) have
pushed to the point where we feel our judgment was clouded, and what we
did about it, and whether, on returning to the same ground, we felt as ...
'clouded' the second time. Or did we 'return' at all?



=====
There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of the great and generous emotions of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder.

T.Roosevelt 4/23/10

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