Monday, May 16, 2016

Adding Insult to Injury

Well, as I write this, I am still icing my knee and resting up.

Trail Days in Damascus was a great time! It is essentially a huge festival celebrating the AT, the hikers, and the community in general. There were tons of vendors, lots of food, live music, a giant "tent city" for people to camp in, and tons of past and present thru hikers. It was a blast to be surrounded by so many people who love this trail. On Saturday afternoon I was sitting in front of the entertainment stage icing my knee and was fortunate to catch a presentation for Gene Espy, who in 1951 was the second recorded person to thru hike the AT. He had some neat stories to tell, and I can only imagine how different hiking was back then. No ultra-lite gear, no shelters, minimal trail maintenance. It must have been so much harder! It was an honor to see Gene and his family accept this recognition, and it was very inspiring to me.

After Trail Days, I was dropped off in Hot Springs, NC where I've been holed up for three days now resting my knee. Hot Springs is about 35mi north of where I last left the trail, and the plan was for me to rest here, recuperate, ice my knee and wait for my hiking buddies to arrive. I've been doing PT exercises sent to me from Brooke, Scottie, and my Uncle Mark which are definitely helping. A HUGE (Yuge) thank you to them for taking time to help me get better faster. I've been eating too many meals in restaurants, enjoying some local brews, checking out the outfitter in town, and catching up on my Netflix. I am so ready to get back on the trail tomorrow. My concern, however, is that my knee isn't ready. I still have a bit of pain while walking, and I know that won't get any better by traipsing through the woods and over mountains. I have one more night in town full of ice, rest, and stretches and will then decide tomorrow morning if I'll continue on or not. It is such a hard decision to make, and I'm seriously struggling with it. All I want to do is get back on the trail and continue hiking north, but I need to make sure my body is fully ready, or I'll risk further injury. This is not how I wanted my hike to go, at all. If I'm not ready to hike tomorrow, I may have to look at coming back to Vermont for some more extensive rehab for a few weeks. After that I can reevaluate my plan: where do I start back up, when, will I meet my hiking group, do I go south instead? So many questions that will come up if I can't start hiking tomorrow. I'm trying to take it all one day at a time and remind myself that everything happens for a reason. 

7 comments:

  1. Wow, that's tough. I'll send you some Reiki.

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  2. Get well. It's not worth risking any injury. Make sure it's better before moving on. It will only snowball in my experience. Good luck; safe travels Daniel!

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  3. I can't even begin to imagine the weight of what must be whirlwinding in your head right now Dang. It must be tough and I can feel that through your post. However it unfolds you know that it's all happening now, all in perfect timing, we are creating our own realities in every single moment whether on purpose or not...(we choose). And as I closed my eyes and imagined you while holding my latest bestest book ever by Cheryl Strayed (author of Wild) I stopped at a page that reads: You will learn a lot from yourself if you stretch in the direction of goodness, of bigness, of kindness, or forgiveness, of emotional bravery. Be a warrior of Love. Let it unfurl into its own perfectness. I love you Dingle <3

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  4. Have you tried Kinetic Taping? I've been told it can work wonders and you could probably apply it yourself once you've been shown how to do it.

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  5. Another option is chilling here in Virginia Beach with us to further rest your knee and then we can figure out where to get you back on the trail to meet up with your group.

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  6. Don't blow your knee out. Don't beat yourself up, the trail will wait for you.

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  7. Be gentle on yourself...physically and mentally.

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