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Reflections & tales from a life of adventure faith & Family
Sometimes the most challenging part of adventure racing is getting to the start line
Currently on the plane to leave for Minneapolis then another plane to Spokane Washington then a shuttle into Canada
See what I mean. And it’s only Thursday and we don’t start racing unto SUNDAY!!!!
However with long races there is lots to do lots of gear & food to sort and maps to plot on and skills to be tested by race people
The
List
Goes
On
….
But happy to be here have some cooler weather
Said goodbye to Robin this am which is never easy on both of us. So say a prayer for her too oh & cora
RTNX is another day closer and I am well into tapering now. Which has always been tricky for me…. How much how little really depends on many factors
How long is the race
How much training one has done in preparation
Is there a lot of travel leading up to the race
No 2 races are the same and this is no different of course 6 days non stop is a long time to race and incredibly tough on ones body but tapering does play into it
You don’t want to taper too early and loose precious endurance or taper too little too late and not be in good shape at the start line. And while I haven’t had the perfect buildup to this race with long hours of summer camp who ever can say they have had the perfect buildup to a 6 day race.
E-fix a few weeks back certainly helps and I’m hope that long hours of summer camp with help too. I felt like it did in costa rica last year when we raced there.
But with tapering it’s always tempting to go out and do more in the few days leading up to the race. And then there’s the food and eating factor. While I’m not burning as much I do have to keep a balance between building glycogen stores and not putting on pounds.
it’s funny because with these international races and traveling to them one tends to eat a lot and I often feel like I have put on 10lbs by the time I get to the start line. Knowing fully that within 48 hrs it will be burned off and by the end I will look all emaciated.
Today was Camp Appreciation Day at camp. When we appreciate camp or clean, pack up, put away many of the things we have used over the summer.
It went fast, and that said it’s not quite over yet. We still have horse day camp and day camp next week and Mission Work Camp and Global Village through August 6th. So not over completely, however we did say goodbye to about 1/2 of our summer staff and will keep around 13 or so for next week and beyond.
I have closed out a summer camp 10 times now but 13 in total. And are happy to report that i have completed my 10th summer as program director at Calvin Center. 11 total at Calvin, 13 over all. Very satisfying to have had 10 years here and helped shape (with literally 100’s of people’s’ help) shape the program to what it is today.
While i have sat through that many final day closing staff meetings with summer staff i am caught between them being ‘old hat’ repetitive and that was really moving and hope i never get bored or tired of being a part of that. These young adults have worked their tails off and are at a pivotal point in their lives. As they continue in their education, faith journey or where ever life may take them next. Happy to be a part of that.
On another note, had a bad river trip yesterday. Was guiding a group of youth from our denomination (not Calvin Campers) down the Flint River (the usual section we paddle with campers) and about 10 mins into the trip i killed it. i couldn’t in good conscience continue the trip. there were too many red flags to continue.
first it became apparent their paddling skills were not what i had been told/expected. Then a number of them flipped at the first piece of real moving water, it wasnt even a rapid. Then it started raining… hard, so by now all were wet and would be cold and potentially pre hypothermic in an hour or so. oh and did i mention the thunder and lightning. That was too many ‘lemons on the slot machine’ for me to allow it to continue. So we dragged boats back up-stream and swam in the river once the thunder had stopped.
However this thursday i leave for Canada to race Raid the North Extreme (RTNX) we fly to Spokane Wa, then drive into BC, Canada to a town called Nelson. Coverage for this race should be good. So if you are interested you should be able to keep up online and over twitter and race website. We will be wearing “SPOT” tracking devices on our packs that will link to a satellite and allow real-time positioning of where we are. If it isnt moving dont freak out, we may be taking an hour or so sleep or in a transition area.
Will post more before then and the scramble to keep day camps etc rolling and packing for RTNX
I have always thought that summer doesnt really start here in the south until the humidity kicks in. If that is true that summer started today. OH MY GOSH!!!! unbelieveable humidity today.
but also thinking that it might be day 5 of 10 day camp and its starting to show.
but also thinking that i ran for 3 hours this morning.
but also thinking that i am trying to train for a 6 day race in Canada in less than 2 weeks. and doing much more training than i usually do in the summer.
Right now camo is happily chaotic. we have over 100 campers here. 2 adventure trips leaving tomorrow. one just cam back today, and people all over the place.
And now finally @ 11.43 at night Robin and i sit down, only for a few minutes before we go to bed to wake up early and drive her to the airport to fly home to Raleigh for 4 days.
Good night
With 4th July in our rear vision i have had some thoughts about it. Not surprisingly as some of you might be reading right now. So hear goes…
Some of these thoughts come from an article i saw/read on the CNN belief blog this morning. See link below for details
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/01/pastor-explains-why-i-dont-sing-the-national-anthem/
This type of story really interests me as i stand on the sidelines each 4th of July and watch as America does its thing over its Indpendence. Dont get wrong i think that nationhood, demoncracy and independence are wonderful things, and while my home NZ has its own government and IS a democracy we still have that monarch looking over our shoulder.
However what intrigued me about this article is the that many idea that many Americans only see being Patriotic as being meet by doing/completing or exercising a short list of activities. for example waving a flag, wearing an Old Navy t-shirt with a US flag on it, or chanting USA, USA, USA. Which leads me to say this…is this bordering on idolatry? Which is interesting when a country with such a large God presence knows fully well that 1st commandment is “Thou shall have no other gods before me.”
Has the nationhood idea reached such a fever pitch that it can only be defined by a short list of ‘ways to show you are patriotic’ and therefore become so narrow and exercised with such great energy that if you don’t show it this way or that way you are dare i say it unamerican.
And has it reached such a fever ptich that it has reduced all the God references to the point where America itself has become the god (small ‘g’ of course) what was the 1st commandment?.
Very ironic, i think.
Also what interests me is the way in which a country defines itself with its patriotic acitivties and un patriotic activties. i have had this debate with my parents numerous times, who have said that America is more patriotic than NZ, and thats fine they are entitled to their opinion. however my response is this… It depends on how one defines patriotic, it depends on what ‘makes the list’ of patriotic acts. NZ & the USA are VERY different, while we predominately speak english, eat with a knife & fork, value family, health, education there are A LOT of other things that make us VERY different. And to say that one is more patriotic than the other or less than the other is using a different yard stick to measure two very different things. Its not comparing apples to apples but apples to (might i say) marmite or baseball to cricket.
This morning was one of those character building days with my training. Strangley enough it began yesterday when i completed this wickedly hard core routine that i occasionally do. This time i had Robin join me, it takes about an hour to complete and is super hard. As the day wears on, one starts to feel it more, and by the time we both woke up this morning WE were both in complete agony. Hurting EVERYWHERE, muscles that ached all over our body (it was even hard to just get out of bed). i knew this was going to happen it always does with this routine. But nice to have someone hurt with me… Robin.
So with that said, it said me up for a character building day whereby i ran for 2 1/2 hrs and rode for 2 hours all this morning. OUCH i hurt. And to make things more interesting i ran hill sprints, and rode hill repeats. Oh and did i mention the humidity is crazy around here right now. Its rained every afternoon since Saturday and today looks to be the same.
However as i came home from my ride and collasped on the kitchen floor. i said to Robin in a few weeks when it hurts really bad on day 4 on Raid race in Canada i will look back on today and say… “thats why i did all that on that tuesday.”
Yesterday was a fun day. We had the annual Checkpoint Zero summer party.
We gathered as a team at one if our teammates house in the nth ga mtns.
It was fun to be together with most of my team mates (Michelle couldnt make it, as she had to attend her grandfathers 94th brithday) and not have the pressure of either getting ready for a race or cleaning up after a race.
Here are some other plesant observations…
Instead we spent the afternoon, hanging out, talking about other things (some adventure racing of course, especially our upcoming Raid/Canada race) eating steaks, good salad and then Jon & I introduced most people to the joys of rugby. And the numerous games he has recorded in the past few months.
Overall a great afternoon/evening spent of not all racing
Finally at home resting after a long week.
Fridays are so different around camp there is always lots to do as it’s closing day but one should never schedule anything because you never know what is going to happen.
For example…
Our equestrian directors car blew up downtown ATL
Had a parent call and ask if we could drive her sone home to nth ATL because she hadn’t planned to come get him today
Considered firing someone, didn’t in the end but gave a written warning
But got to eat lots of cookies and play with kids a lot
Tonight we are at home together, Robin & I oh & Cora of course. Its been a while and nice to be home with Robin.
We are in week 4 of summer camp and this friday we get a 4 1/2 day break mostly becuase of 4th July break. Yah my favorite…. when Americans go crazy for “their independance” ok ok i know i will stop there before i blog something i regret.
Over the break we plan to DO NOTHING!!!! well not exactly. We have our team annual summer party for CheckpointZero. this should be fun, and a good opportunity to relax with team mates/good friends and not be at a race and always hurrying around to get ready for a start time.
We also plan to just hang out with each other. Visit with some friends from Alabama who are coming here. We might go sailing one day and of course i need to keep training for the 6 day Raid Race in Canada next month.
All in all… looking forward to the break, and looking forward to being with Robin
The weekend went better than expected. the thing hurts now is coming back and expecting to work those long hours again with little rest over the weekend.
Anyways… We finished second and used almost every minute of the 28 hours to do so. We were 1st at the end for about 4 minutes but the then 2nd place team Technu had to gain a 30 mins time bonus for looking for a checkpoint thtat was lost or stolen or misplaced. So we were bumped. WE WERE BUMMED. but really feel good about it overall.
considering it was a training run for RAID in Canada next month. We are happy. It was a very long race though. lots of stories to share and will over the weekend.
Sleep 1hour over the course of the 48 hours. YUK
but still happy.
Paul Humphreys Adventures 
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