a bigger, taller brick wall

Lots of things happening lately. Seems to always be the case, but there’s a few different topics I want to write about today.

Last week, I was able to be a part of the CDT Sobo Trail Daze events here in Leadville. It was pretty last minute and I was able to sign myself up a day or two in advance. Luckily, they had a table for me and my dyes and are less than a block away from my house so it was pretty painless to get there.

I found it funny that three of the four shop setups were either owned by Melanzana employees or Melanzana itself. Fritz should be proud of us. It was great to meet some badass thru-hikers that stopped by my table and checked out my dyes. Hearing the speakers talk about their adventures both big and small made me wistful for a hike myself. I don’t think a thru-hike would be a goal of mine, mostly because I have other hobbies I want to do and I wouldn’t want to bring my dog for a months-long hike, nor would I want to be away from her for that long. But, it got me excited for a small backpacking trip I had planned for the coming weekend.

This is the first time I attended a truly bilingual event (English and Spanish) and it was so awesome. The flyers for the event had versions for both languages. There were two presenters that spoke English and one that spoke Spanish. The organizers handed out these little iPod nano looking devices with headphones to those that did not speak the same language as the presenter. There was a live translator speaking into the master iPod that went out to all the other devices. I had never seen anything like that before and I thought it was really neat. Our workplace at Melly is also bilingual, with every notice, paper, post-it note, or sign up sheet having both languages. It definitely makes me want to strengthen my Spanish.

I had a great time at CDT Trail Daze and I would like to thank Groucho for allowing me to join, the Golden Burro for hosting, and all the thru-hikers for doing something worth celebrating. It’s nice to have shared experiences, whatever they may be.

Now it’s time for me to shift gears a bit. Remember that backpacking trip I said I had planned? Well, now it probably won’t happen. Not until next year at least. About a month or so ago maybe, I noticed that my calcaneus, or heel bone, had a different shape than I remember it having. I had more bone where the Achilles tendon inserts into my heel than is normal for me. I thought it was strange, but kept living my life. A couple weeks go by and I start to notice soreness in my heels after running or a big hike or playing frisbee. I did some research and determined that these bone spurs are most likely a result of switching to ‘barefoot’ running shoes. Apparently, my calves were not long enough to handle the transition from regular cushioned sneakers to the zero-drop of the barefoot shoes. And my body’s solution was to grow more bones at the base of the muscle.

I am genuinely bewildered. I like get it but I don’t at the same time. I have been an athlete my whole life, largely in cleats as well, that have no heel cushion. I do yoga and stretch almost daily. I ski every winter, with my ankles at acute angles. Yes, my calves would get very sore after going for runs in these shoes in the beginning. So I would stretch them multiple times a day for days afterwards. I’ve been fortunate enough to have never had to sit the bench due to an injury in my athletic ‘career’ thus far. So maybe that contributes to why this injury is so frustrating to me. I stretch my calves every day but my heels still can get sore after a 30 minute walk around town. And I know that once the bone is there, it’s not going away without surgery. So I’m not sure what to do.

The backpacking trip got completely shut down when our dog Jesse was in pain last night after fetch. I believed her to pull a muscle a few weeks ago during our routine game of fetch, so I rested her and just took her on walks in the afternoon instead. After a few weeks of rest, my partner wanted to throw the ball for her again, as it is something they both enjoy. I hadn’t noticed her limping recently so they went. It took a few hours after their game for her to show signs of pain. She was crying at herself trying to get up from laying down and couldn’t walk forward, only backwards, for a few minutes. It absolutely broke my heart to see her like that. I’ve never seen her wince or cry out like that. She’s always been an active dog. So I’m not sure exactly how to help her yet but we are going to the vet tomorrow to hopefully find out what we can do.

I always try to tell myself that everything happens for a reason. Even when things feel really shitty. So maybe this is the universe forcing me to slow down and not hike 15 miles in two days at this time. I wish it wasn’t at the expense of my dog’s health though. It’s funny how you wish your dog could have a little less crazy energy, or pull less on the leach during walks, but I now miss it because it meant that she was capable. I think she is being dramatic about her pain just a little bit, and I probably am too. But I hope that we can both heal from our injuries and learn from our experiences and continue to do things we both enjoy. Like walking.

Hope you are faring better than we are.

Much love,

Abby