It was a pretty nice Hash trail yesterday, up until it wasn’t. Longish at 8K, but the only significant climb wasn’t all that bad. Part of the down was through a creekbed, but the stones let you stay above the water. In fact, things didn’t go wrong for me until we were back down in the valley. I’d written about a Wednesday hike a couple of weeks ago where trying to avoid the flooded road along the berms/levees/dikes in the rice patties had proved fruitless. When I found out the Hash trail was also going through the same area, I expressly asked the Hare (Almoranus) about the water, and he assured me we could complete the hike with dry feet. So, when the designated path led back to the flooded road, I was a little pissed.
With my “fuck that” attitude firmly in place, I headed up the hill alongside the road, hoping to find a way to bypass the water. Once I’d gone as far as I could, I headed back down only to encounter a VERY steep descent near the bottom of the hill. I was treading carefully, holding on to tree limbs, and using my stick to steady myself, but it was to no avail. Suddenly, my feet flew out from under me; I came down hard flat on my back, then slid about ten or fifteen yards before mercifully coming to a stop. I was fortunate to only acquire a few scrapes and scratches during the ride down on my ass.
When I stood back up, I was disgusted to discover that I hadn’t managed to bypass the flooded road after all. So, I retreated along the bank back to where I had initially deviated and saw that my fellow Hashers were jumping over a narrow section of the road to reach dry ground on the other side. I joined in and made a successful leap, further demonstrating that my avoidance had been not only fruitless but also unnecessary and foolish.
But that wasn’t the worst of it. When I pulled my phone out of my back pocket to take a photograph, I discovered that it had not withstood the impact of my entire body weight slamming it into the ground. The screen was black and cracked, but the phone’s innards were still working. I could hear my tracker as it continued counting out distance and elapsed time, although I’m sure the mocking tone of voice was all in my imagination. Fuck.
My efforts thus far today to get the phone repaired have been fruitless. The Samsung A53 is a newer model, and no one has replacement parts in stock. I also discovered that I’m addicted to my phone and all the distractions it provides, so in desperation, I bought a replacement this morning (an A23 that I will keep as a backup for future emergencies).
Anyway, no other issues on trail. We did our first On-Home at Johan’s on Baloy since before the scamdemic. So, one more step towards normalcy. I figured the photos I had taken during the hike would not be available for this post, but I discovered almost by accident that they automatically upload to the Google Cloud, so at least I have a few of my own to add to the mix today.
Let’s get to it.
It’s been a while since I’ve done an 8K Hash trail. I had also done a beach walk in the morning. Lately, I’ve been averaging between 15,000 and 20,000 steps per day. It is very rare that I’ll do much more than that–21,000 thousand is a big day for me.
But Facebook memories remembered:
And falling on my ass.
That’s quite a tumble! Do keep checking yourself periodically: as with car accidents, some internal bumps don’t show up immediately. Watch for stiffness and limited range of motion. Do some easy exercises to check your joints, etc.—stuff like squats, neck rotations, etc. Look for any twinges.
Semi-related point: have you thought about buying a spirometer to check your lung capacity? They’re available via Amazon. There are battery-operated and manual versions. I’d get a manual one. Less maintenance. Anyway, with a spirometer, you can track your lung capacity over time. That’s extra data you can bring to your doctor.
Aside from that, it looks to have been an impressive hike. Good luck getting your regular phone repaired.
Yeah, a little stiff and sore but full range of movement. This, too, shall pass.
No, I hadn’t ever considered a spirometer. Just did a quick read, and yeah, I want one. Thanks!
Glad the fall left you with nothing more than a few bruises, both to your body and ego.
Yeah, it is amazing how we as a society have become addicted to our phones. It is always funny to see a group of people sitting together at a table and all have their noses in the phone, probably texting the people right next to them. (I am as guilty of that as the next person, but I still think it is funny)
Yeah, I knew I was one of those people constantly checking their phone, but hadn’t realized how much I’d miss it and how lost I felt without it. It’s kind of sad in a way, but hey, I’m funnier on messenger!