01.19.19

Date:
01.19.19

Time:
4:09 am

Activity:
Double Baldy - Twice up and down Sun Valley ski hill.  Added a little bouldering afterward (photo)

Distance:
12.4 miles

Gear:
La Sportiva Wildcats GTX; Kahtoola KTS crampons; Hammer Perpetuem (chocolate), Gu Gel (vanilla); Honey Stinger Energy Chews (fruit smoothie)

Audio:
Amicus - "We're Back to Where Mueller Began: Counterintelligence;" Post Show Recaps: "Game of Thrones Re-Watch | Season 6, Ep #6;" Pod Save America - "The impeachment eagle soars;" Music: Pocatello Marathon playlist

Sensations:
Woke up a little before 3:00 am so I could start climbing around 4:00 am, which left me feeling a little raw on the first climb. Soft snow following the recent storm didn't help. But I felt better on the second climb and really good on both descents. None at record-breaking speed.

Overarching thoughts:

“A way a lone a last a loved a long the........riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.”
-James Joyce, Finnegans Wake

Starting and finishing today's outing at Sun Valley's River Run lodge and also listening to a Game of Thrones podcast that discussed the siege at Riverrun in season 6, I couldn't help but think about the final words and first words (in that order) of Joyce's Finnegans Wake.  

"Why should I mourn
The vanished power of the usual reign?"
-T.S. Eliot, Ash Wednesday

The last time I did a double Baldy was in 2009, in the run up to the Coyote Two Moon 100k in Ojai, CA.  My training volume was about twice what it is today; I was 10 years younger; and I was 10 pounds lighter.  As I struggled up the first climb, I couldn't help but miss my previous fitness and speed, which brought Eliot's quote to mind. I mourn the loss of my younger self, but perhaps it's time to embrace whatever the new me is.  Perhaps.