"The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry." -Robert Burns
I know this all too well from my 24 years of misadventures on this planet, and know that no matter how much we plan, sometimes God thinks it's fun to mess with us. It's character building, as I repeatedly told my rowers last year when any number of things went wrong. So today, on many levels, I know exactly how Roz Savage and Ralph Tuijn are feeling right now. Roz was caught in a storm just 10 days into her Pacific row, capsized a handful of times, had her sea anchor severed from its tether, and was subsequently "rescued" by the USCG on Wednesday (she didn't ask for the rescue, but they picked her up anyways). They were able to recover the boat, and after some minor repairs, she might be able to continue her journey. Ralph ran around on the rocky atolls of Atafu (Union Islands) after crossing more than half of the widest part of the Pacific, unaided. He got away without anything worse than cuts and bruises, but his boat fought a losing battle with the coral. He is hoping to continue on thanks to the incredible support of the islanders, but a fairly substantial (looks to be about a foot in diameter) gash in the hull could pose a problem if they cannot repair it. Ocean rowing is a great adventure, but a huge part of that adventure is the scary/exciting unknown. Only by stepping out of your comfort zone can you experience the beauty of a perfect sunrise coming up over a clear horizon or the peacefulness of a night alone with a million stars, but in that, you're probably going to experience a few storms and setbacks along the way. I've been there before, and I wish all the best to Roz and Ralph, and continued success to Erden.
So, in light of plans going awry, I am not making any this weekend. I am normally a very organized planner, meticulously scheduling my work day, my weekend adventures, my research goals for the month, training schedules for the year, etc, etc. But, since this weekend is a holiday weekend, I am taking a vacation from planning and am just taking things as they come to me.
My original lack of a plan was to play a game of "Pin the Jeep on the State of Arizona." Basically I was going to drive north on I-17 or AZ-87 (my only parameter was getting out of the heat), and not stop until I found someplace cool in temperature and cool in natural surroundings. Lakes, canyons, mountains, waterfalls, forests, or anything that could keep me busy/enthralled/lost for three days would suffice. But, since I have good adventurous friends, I have a couple of other options now as well. Now thrown into the mix are mountain biking in Sedona or Prescott, surfing in southern California, and/or watching Purdue destroy Toledo (1st game, I know it's not going to be that exciting) with a whole bunch of Boilers at Duke's in Scottsdale. What the weekend will entail, only God knows, and since He has such a great sense of humor regarding plans, I'm sure it will be interesting no matter I do.
I know this all too well from my 24 years of misadventures on this planet, and know that no matter how much we plan, sometimes God thinks it's fun to mess with us. It's character building, as I repeatedly told my rowers last year when any number of things went wrong. So today, on many levels, I know exactly how Roz Savage and Ralph Tuijn are feeling right now. Roz was caught in a storm just 10 days into her Pacific row, capsized a handful of times, had her sea anchor severed from its tether, and was subsequently "rescued" by the USCG on Wednesday (she didn't ask for the rescue, but they picked her up anyways). They were able to recover the boat, and after some minor repairs, she might be able to continue her journey. Ralph ran around on the rocky atolls of Atafu (Union Islands) after crossing more than half of the widest part of the Pacific, unaided. He got away without anything worse than cuts and bruises, but his boat fought a losing battle with the coral. He is hoping to continue on thanks to the incredible support of the islanders, but a fairly substantial (looks to be about a foot in diameter) gash in the hull could pose a problem if they cannot repair it. Ocean rowing is a great adventure, but a huge part of that adventure is the scary/exciting unknown. Only by stepping out of your comfort zone can you experience the beauty of a perfect sunrise coming up over a clear horizon or the peacefulness of a night alone with a million stars, but in that, you're probably going to experience a few storms and setbacks along the way. I've been there before, and I wish all the best to Roz and Ralph, and continued success to Erden.
So, in light of plans going awry, I am not making any this weekend. I am normally a very organized planner, meticulously scheduling my work day, my weekend adventures, my research goals for the month, training schedules for the year, etc, etc. But, since this weekend is a holiday weekend, I am taking a vacation from planning and am just taking things as they come to me.
My original lack of a plan was to play a game of "Pin the Jeep on the State of Arizona." Basically I was going to drive north on I-17 or AZ-87 (my only parameter was getting out of the heat), and not stop until I found someplace cool in temperature and cool in natural surroundings. Lakes, canyons, mountains, waterfalls, forests, or anything that could keep me busy/enthralled/lost for three days would suffice. But, since I have good adventurous friends, I have a couple of other options now as well. Now thrown into the mix are mountain biking in Sedona or Prescott, surfing in southern California, and/or watching Purdue destroy Toledo (1st game, I know it's not going to be that exciting) with a whole bunch of Boilers at Duke's in Scottsdale. What the weekend will entail, only God knows, and since He has such a great sense of humor regarding plans, I'm sure it will be interesting no matter I do.
Getting lost on Luggola Mtn., Wicklow Range, Ireland
No comments:
Post a Comment