sport, or not
- From: agedest <berdid@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2008 08:59:33 -0700 (PDT)
One year a long time ago, a friend and I talked ourselves into going
skiing, all the way to Taos for a week. I had read books and had
thought I was exercising the way the magazines showed; but he had
not. We slogged and bumbled through the beginner course, and managed
to make it down a few beginner runs. I hurt a knee ramming out of
control into a snow bank; he drank wine one afternoon and did a run
non-stop and was elated. We had a good time, but left still terrified
of the blue-blazed intermediates. We next tried a weekend at a local
place, everything very different including the melting snow, and did
poorly. Neither of us had the money for more of it, but we did "have
the experience" and a few mementos.
Some years later, I spent part of a winter bumming at two resorts in
Colorado, skiing downhill every day of the week and cross-country on
crowded weekends. My gear was crap, I had taken no more lessons but
watched a few, did get to jamming moguls on blue runs but failed
totally with powder which had been my dream, and injured a shoulder
that was not quite right for years. It occurred to me then that I had
spent more time than even the perennial two-week vacationers, but was
doing no better or worse. The problem, I decided, was me, just like
with other sports we all try growing up but most don't do well enough
to continue.
Some years later, I practiced tennis as continuously as possible,
mostly alone on a backboard or serves, then eventually with various
partners. By the time I had to wear bifocals and decided to give up,
I could play well enough to be a training partner for a local
competitor and help with beginner lessons. It had taken many years
and thousands of hours to make that progress, and it wasn't me who was
a local competitor. With all the effort, there was still only so much
that I could do with it.
It's been the same with climbing. Time at the time will make a
difference: the more you do something, the better you might do it; and
time over time will make a difference: the longer you keep at it, the
more progress you might make. There are books, classes, cross
training. But there is only so much a person can do with any sport,
and time is always running out. With climbing, there is also a
statistical clock ticking: gravity, is always waiting, for one last
mistake.
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