[at-l] Preparation and the "Hike ended short after 13 miles"

[sloetoe at yahoo.com (Sloetoe)]

Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 16:06:31 -0800 (PST)
From: william fitzpatrick <jestbill@yahoo.com>
['toe wroted:]
("I'm going to get in shape on the trail; it's really the only
*right* wayyyy...") is just the stupidest thing I hear.
Criminal.

{jestBill replied wit':}
Depends on what they "really" mean by that.

### No, it really doesn't.
What I was saying was "'Prepare' and your chances improve;
don't, and you're handicapped." What you reply with is a trade
of a mental handicap (an inability to handle long distance
hiking decisions) for a physical one. But it is no trade: you
still have whatever mental infirmity that might cause you to "be
tempted to go too fast or take chances that [you] couldn't
handle... break[ing] a leg or fall[ing] off a mountain ...", but
now you've willfully added to it a lack of leg strength and
overall endurance. Strong legs will keep a stumble from being a
fall; and bad decisions are VERY positively correlated to being
tired.

Lastly, you conclude with an example that disproves your point
of age=perseverance,wisdom,discretion, ending with "they went
home." They failed, despite age, wisdom, etc.

There is no good reason for any intelligent person to willfully
start a journey with an 80%-90% failure rate __with__ an
avoidable handicap, unless they __want__ to fail.

'toe
not trying to be mean;
NOT risking clarity, either.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>  I did a lot of walking before I went to Springer to build
endurance but (aside from laziness) I deliberately did not try
to build super legs or improve my wind very much.

> My thought was that I was a novice and that if I were in too
good a shape I'd be tempted to go too fast or to take chances
that I couldn't handle.

> I was much more concerned that I might break a leg or fall off
a mountain than that I would get too tired to continue.  It's
hard enough for a novice to walk on rough terrain: no sense in
trying to run.

> I think age has a lot to do with it.  Us old guys know we can
do whatever we set out to do--or we'd just stay home.  We
realize that we don't know what we don't know and try not to set
ourselves up for failure.

> That said, I saw a couple of "old guys" with really great
equipment who decided it just wasn't as much fun being cold and
wet as it was when they were only 50.  As I understand it, they
didn't persevere merely to prove anything, they went home.

Spatior! Nitor! Nitor! Tempero!
   Pro Pondera Et Meliora.