I had so much writing planned for March. Had hoped to get out more to take photos, too. But life is life. Another 8-10 additional hours in the day would be terribly useful. I already don’t sleep much, so there’s not a lot to gain there.
I went out to Angel Rocks early in the month to take senior portraits for one of my team kids. It was a nice day, albeit a little chilly and windy at the top. There was a surprising amount of postholing on the lower trail by the river, but once we were up on the hill, the trail was firm. It was rare to have the trail to ourselves on a weekend, even in winter.
The gym and the climbing team have kept me pretty busy. We traveled to Bend, Oregon, in early March for USA Climbing Regionals. It was a quick trip for me, Fairbanks to Bend on Saturday evening, spending most of my Sunday in ISO helping the kids warm up, followed by a late dinner. Monday morning, many of us went back to the gym to climb all the comp routes some more. At the end of the session, I was trying one of the M/O U19 (Men’s 17-18-year-old category) routes that started with a high right foot, grabbing the hold beneath your foot, and then pulling your left foot off the ground to tap the hold.
The start was awkward, but didn’t seem particularly tweaky to me. At least, not until my last attempt, where, pulling my left foot off the ground, I heard and felt a pop on the right side of my groin. The pain was intense. Writing this over a week-and-a-half later, I’m nowhere near fully recovered. Walking is fine, but I don’t foresee myself getting on the wall at my normal capacity for quite some time. Check out that lovely color on my thigh, though!
So, I likely tore a muscle, possibly one of the hip flexors. I feel incredibly lucky that it hasn’t affected my walking much; however, going from standing to lying down and back again is still a painful ordeal.
I followed this up by immediately heading to Smith Rock and going for an 8-mile hike (with a few thousand feet of elevation gain). While I can openly admit that this was a stupid idea, given my very recent injury, after this record-breaking cold winter in Fairbanks, I needed to get out and enjoy the local Oregon scenery and 60°F temps.
Besides, moving forward and back felt totally fine. I just had to be careful about my feet slipping to the side. It was the lateral movement that caused pain.
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Being a climber for over 30 years, I’ve somehow never made it to Smith Rock. Although I’ve been watching climbing videos from the area, looking at photos, and dreaming about it for most of that time. Being there was far beyond what I had expected. The sheer scale of the cliffs there is inspiring. I had no idea how insanely tall some of them were. It’s an unbelievably beautiful area. I could spend weeks, if not months, there just climbing and focusing on landscape photography.
My leg was stiff after sitting on the flight back into Fairbanks late that evening. Had trouble sleeping. And back into work early the next morning to deliver heating fuel, the price of which continues to climb higher every day. The gym was busy during the week, which is great news and helped it go by quickly, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make much of a dent in my to-do list and couldn’t even touch on stuff around the house.
Friday, March 20, we had some colorful aurora, and I actually stayed out late to watch and take some photos.
Working through the weekend was a little soul-crushing, but it was pretty cold still anyway, so I didn’t feel too terrible about not getting outside. At least, I didn’t think so until Monday night when the aurora was fantastic, and I could barely drag myself out of the cabin to go look.
I don’t think it was just physical and mental exhaustion. It’s the winter that just doesn’t want to let go. It’s not knowing how long it’s going to take to recover from my injury. Not knowing how much it might cut into my short summer plans. I want to be running and climbing or out hiking and taking photos. Everything I’m passionate about just gets put on hold.
We had two or three nights of unbelievable aurora, and I didn’t take a single photo. Total lack of energy and motivation. Maybe it’s regret. One of those moments where the seasonal depression takes over and completely gets the best of me. Like, I’m not behind the wheel.
But things are starting to look a little better now that the month is almost over. I did finally take most of the weekend off. It was really hard to get out and get moving. I felt paralyzed, or like I didn’t know what to do outside of work. But I did get in a couple of long walks on the UAF trails and just around the University. The air is warmer. Today I walked in just a sweatshirt and jeans, and the sunlight felt like warm pressure against my body.
On top of that, I did climb a little today. I was very conservative about my leg, and downclimbed most things rather than dropping off. It felt good to move again, even if I can’t use my leg much. And the entire session was pain-free.
