mgedwards – Page 103

Training for a Triathlon

I signed up for the American School of Lusaka’s triathlon taking place on April 10. It’s not a full triathlon, mind you. I signed up for the intermediate option with six kilometers of cycling, a two-kilometer run, and a 200-meter swim. I’m fit enough to complete the bicycle ride, but I still have some work to do to finish the run and swim. I should be able to do the run after a month of preparation. I decided that I will power walk if my legs or lungs fail me. I power walk at about 70 percent as fast as I run.

I’m unsure, however, whether I’ll be able to finish the swim. I measured our neighborhood swimming pool and calculated that I will need to do 16 laps in the pool to swim 200 meters. I gave it a try this morning – it was freezing! – and swam just six laps before I quit exhausted. Swimming uses a different set of muscles I haven’t exercised for quite some time. Fortunately, I still have a month to prepare for this triathlon – time enough to build up my endurance. I decided that each time I finish my power walk/run I’ll end it with a swim. I wish I had time to do each event separately, but I don’t have enough time and figure I’ll need to practice doing all three at once before actually doing it. Very likely my neighbors will do double-takes when they see some oddball using the pool in the dark.

My wife inspired me to try a triathlon. She didn’t suggest it. She led by example when she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, a 19,000 peak in Tanzania, during the holidays earlier this year. This pales in comparison to climbing a peak like Kili, and Jing accomplished it with even less training than I have had for this event. I too would like to tackle Kili later this year, but I first need to push myself and do activities I’ve never done before to gear up for Kili – like doing triathlons and running road races. I’ll decide at mid-year whether I’m ready to summit Kili and train accordingly.

Will I finish this mini-triathlon? I’m not sure, but as the Little Red Caboose once said, “I think I can.” If I do, I won’t be one of the first to cross the finish line. I may not be able to finish the run or swim without stopping or walking. But, I’ll give it my best shot. The only one I’m racing against is myself. Everyone else can pass me by. As long as I cross the finish line, that will be enough of a victory for me.

Youth Revisited

I’ve spent the last couple of months reclaiming my life. I spent far too much time and energy on activities that should not have mattered as much to me as they did, and neglected what truly made me happy. I made a conscious effort to reprioritize my life, and it’s already paid dividends. I realized that what truly makes me happy is what I used to do until the realities of life interfered, pushing aside those activities that really brought me joy. No more. While I still need to do what I must, I am now making a concerted effort to rekindle the joys of my youth. While one might say that therein lies the seeds of a mid-life crisis, another could say that they hold the source of the fountain of youth.

This weekend I rode my bicycle for about 1.5 hours. I didn’t ride as far as I would have liked. My body isn’t what it used to be, and I’m no longer used to sitting for an extended period of time on a bicycle braving traffic, hills, and headwinds. My body was sore after the ride, but my spirit was satisfied. When I was younger, I used to ride my bicycle everywhere. I remember fondly a couple of long-haul bicycle trips I took. On one trip in the late 1980’s, I rode with a youth group for four days from western Montana to North Idaho. The following year, I rode for a week in western Montana. After I went to college, I stopped taking these kinds of trips. I rode my bicycle around campus, but it wasn’t the same. My studies short curtailed my cycling. After I graduated from college (many years later) and became a working family man, I didn’t start riding again – until now. The ride this weekend was my first attempt in over two decades to recapture my passion for cross-country cycling. I plan to ride once a month, perhaps more. Each time I plan to ride further and build up my physical endurance. I’m not as spry as I used to be, but the passion is still there and will carry me far.

I also revived my interest in creative writing and cartography. When I was younger, I spent many hours writing books and stories and drawing maps. I quit when I went to college. Although I tried writing again in the 1990’s after I graduated, work and family took away any extra time I had. In 2004, I started this blog to rekindle my creative writing juices. It’s been coming back in fits and starts but came back with a vengeance this year. This time I’m armed with a measure of wisdom I didn’t have as a youth. I introduced discipline in my writing and cartography that I didn’t have when I was younger. This year I finished transcribing and updating a book for young adults I wrote as a 15-year-old and finished writing a children’s story my son and I developed last year. I’ve moved on to transcribing the first chapter of a fantasy novel I started writing in the late 1980’s but never finished. Afterwards, I will go back to the first book I transcribed, expand on it, and review it for publication. I haven’t started drawing maps again, but once I begin updating the fantasies I created as a youth I will develop maps for them. This rigor will help me do something I always wanted to do as a kid but never really accomplished – publish my material.

As a youth I enjoyed drawing cartoons and illustrations. I drew a couple of comic strips for two college newspapers many years ago; someday when my writing has taken off, I will try to resurrect them. I also enjoy singing and writing songs. I wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but I never did because I lacked discipline. I’ve picked up the guitar a few times since the new year, but I haven’t made much progress yet. I plan to increase the number of practices and eventually hire a guitar teacher. If I can master a few songs, I’ll try to do something I’ve wanted to do for years – record an album. My goal isn’t to be a professional singer; rather, I’d like to record it for my son. My own father was an incredible singer. I dreamed of one day recording a duet with him, but he passed away before I could do it. I don’t want to pass on before leaving behind some kind of recording. These are future plans; I realize that I can only do so much at once and am now focused on reviving these interests little by little.

I realized that in order to be truly happy, you should do what really makes you happy. It also occurred to me that when you’re younger, you tend to do what you enjoy and have more time to do it before the realities of adult life begin pushing what you really want to do aside. Think about what you did when you were younger that made you happy. Do you still do it? If not, why not? Why not try doing it again? It might make your life even more fulfilling or satisfying. You’ll never know unless you try (again).

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Victoria Falls and Iguaçu Falls

Click here to read a follow-on article about Victoria Falls and Iguaçu Falls with photos.

I’ve had the rare opportunity over the past year to visit two of the world’s largest waterfalls. I visited Iguaçu Falls on the Argentine-Brazilian border in February 2009 prior to leaving South America, where I had lived for two years. I just returned from a short weekend trip to Victoria Falls on the Zambian-Zimbabwean border, which is a six-hour trip from Lusaka, Zambia by car. As measured by water volume, these two waterfalls are two of the largest and arguably most spectacular waterfalls in the world.

It’s easy to make comparisons between the two. In truth, both waterfalls are equally impressive. They’re different, so it’s difficult to say whether one is “better” than the other. Iguaçu Falls is larger by volume and longer. It comprises numerous waterfalls that give it a layered effect, and it stretches over a longer distance than Victoria Falls. The Parana River above Iguaçu Falls collects at the top of the falls and cascades down over what must be a stretch of five miles or longer. At the same time, Iguaçu features a boardwalk on the Brazil side that puts you near the heart of the waterfall, the “Devil’s Throat” (La Garganta del Diablo).

Victoria Falls appears visually larger than its Latino counterpart. The sheer “in your face” effect it offers you while the Zambezi River spills over is incredible. The pathway on the Zambian side puts you very close to a massive wall of water that drops at least a couple hundred feet in front of you. Although I wore rain gear, I was soaking wet when I passed close to the falls – wetter than I was at Iguaçu.

Although I left Iguaçu Falls convinced that it is unsurpassed in its grandeur, Victoria Falls rivals it in intensely. Of course, visitors to either locale would undoubtedly insist that each waterfall is more impressive than the other. As an objective outsider, I believe that these two falls collectively rank as two of the more beautiful and awe inspiring natural wonders of the world. If you ever have a chance to visit either one, don’t miss out. You won’t be sorry spending the money and time to behold two of God’s greatest creations. In this respect, I feel blessed to have experienced both.