Thursday, April 17, 2014

Light-headed

As I can recall, I have only ever blacked out once.

We were hiking 50 miles through the high desert mountains at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.  Coming from relatively close to sea level, just being at the elevation of base camp was tiring, and all the trails seemed to lead up from there.  Last thing I remember I was hiking up the trail in line behind Alex Burciaga on a hot day, the sun directly overhead, and then next thing I know I'm lying under a tree surrounded by very concerned faces of people trying to ask me questions while giving me sips of water.
I am the kid second from the left, seated in the front row, inexplicably flexing.
I went on three different 50 milers back in my scouting days, and the one thread through all of them is that I only remember the good parts.  I have an easy time forgetting the toil and the strain, while the feelings of accomplishment and the vistas from mountain tops stay clear in my mind.

After my first class this morning I felt nauseous.  A combination of feeling light headed and at the same time drinking too much water.

As a quick aside, when I was first stationed at Ft. Polk it was a particularly hot summer.  We were required to have with us our 2 quart cantines at all times.  I was just out of basic training, and an NCO's word was law.  I was in a driver's training course when, for what infraction I'm not sure, I was forced to drink the full two quart cantine, fill it, and drink it again.  I'll mention that the tap water there tasted particularly awful, as I recall.  While trying to drink the second cantine my body decided to purge all the water I'd gorged back up and out.  It was a particularly uncomfortable experience, as you can imagine, as I was also made to clean it up afterward.

The next day it was announced post wide that soldiers could no longer be forced to drink water, as apparently this had not been an isolated incident.

This afternoon I was light headed all through class, having to sit out half of the postures, laying in savasana instead.  Every time I got up to try and attempt another posture I would get more light headed, my vision would tunnel, and I would lay back down before passing out.

It is often repeated that our hardest classes are the ones that we get the most out of.  I'm still counting every class I show up and stay in the room as a victory, no matter what 100% looks like that class, and I remind myself that when I look back I will likely only remember the accomplishments and victories.

34 victories and counting.

Namaste.

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