May 14, 2011
I met her sometime after the one mile mark. I was tired already, and she was resting at a switchback. She was pleasant and quite overweight. Her son had been electrocuted a couple weeks earlier. And we ended up walking together toward the top of Mount Si. It turned out to be one of those random events that slightly modify the future.
Strange how fate twists. It was my second hike to condition me for Peru Quest, and I had started late. I was tired and just decided to hike just a couple hours. By the time I got to the parking lot at the trailhead it was 10:30 something. Cars were driving around in vain looking for a spot. I created one by slipping into the end of a line of cars, leaving just enough room for an SUV to squeeze by. I strapped on the 2.5-pound ankle weights and headed out.
About 11:15 a.m., I came to the switchback where Suzi was resting.
Her group from Olympia had gone on ahead. She was tired. I was tired. I offered her some trail mix. She had back problems from an injury more than a year ago which led to her being 50 pounds overweight. We started walking together. She worried that she would slow me down. She did. To make the most of it, I strapped the five pounders around my ankles at about the 1.7 mile marker. Interesting. I had thought that would be as far as I would hike. But the weights didn’t seem so heavy.
I told her about Global Impact, our program to work with the Quechuan people of Peru to improve their cook stoves and filter their water. She told me about her family.
Two weeks ago, her son, a lineman, had been electrocuted. A foreman hadn’t grounded some electrical part properly. The electrocution came by “induction,” rather than direct current – something like that. There wasn’t enough voltage to kill him. When the bolt left his leg is didn’t even take any flesh with it. She and her husband raced to Harborview in time to hear the helicopter that airlifted him. Doctors induced a coma and ran tests. His internal organs were OK. At this time they are checking for neurological damage.
By the second mile mark she decided she had gone far enough for her first hike. If she hadn’t been walking with me, she never would have made it that far. If I hadn’t been walking with her, I wouldn’t have strapped on the five pounders. I hadn’t planned to do that for at least another two weeks.
You know, the people you hang with shape your future.
My son wasn’t answering, so I phoned his girlfriend, leaving a message about training for Peru. A young couple passing by overheard. The woman asked whether I would be hiking the Inca trail, which she had hiked two years earlier.
And so, Forrest Gump fashion, the story continued with a new set of players.
They were both from Arkansas. He had lived in Seattle, working for a major law publishing firm. Their parents had introduced them, and two months ago they were married. We discussed arranged marriages and altitude sickness, which he had experienced in Aspen, CO. I nearly forgot about the five pounders.
1:50 p.m. The trail is slick with mud and snow. Time to turn back. I caught up with Suzi and her husband on the way down. He plans to retire in a few years and wanted to know more about Global Impact. She was effusive about my getting her to walk so far. But it was because of her that I was nearly two weeks ahead on my conditioning plan.
There was a heavy man climbing the trail despite the late hour and sweating profusely. He intended to reach the top. He was carrying 60 pounds of water in his backpack. He had been doing this for a few weeks.
Next week I’ll tell you about you.
Love,
Robert
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