5 Alive
Resolutions. Athletics.
In my own version of mountain-man mediocrity, the number 5 as a benchmark seems to exist at the fringe of difficulty. A 5000 foot ski day is hard but not ever impossible. WI 5 is the upper limit of my ice climbing accomplishment. Mixed climbing, same number.
Given all that, I'll wrap my goals for this year around número cinco (or multiples thereof). Some of these benchmarks I have already achieved and will be somewhat easy to replicate. Those that I have not yet reached, by my estimation, will require a similar amount of training and skill work as the others.
My list, for 2013:
5000 foot ski tour in 5 hours, car to car.
15000 feet of ski touring in a day, on multiple peaks (few, if any "laps" on repeated terrain).
50 mile run
5.10 rock climbing: face, crack, etc.
WI 5 ice leading.
Skiing a sustained 50 degree pitch.
V5 bouldering
M5 mixed/dry-tool leading
5 minute mile
This latter-most may be the outlier, and a personal story here may be what got the ball rolling on this whole rule of 5 mission. In high school, at good old MCS, we would run a mile every year. The school didn't have a "proper" track. But the "mile" was widely held to be two complete laps around the athletic fields. One year, my time over that course was 4:55. Not a bad time, if it were indeed an actual mile. That shadow of a doubt has been a bit haunting. What if it was shorter? What if it was longer? In any event, any chance of replicating or measuring the actual course was preempted with the construction of the school expansion there. With a high school track just across town here in Bishop, and an apparently world class track up in Mammoth, I have no excuse now for not giving it a go. I ran tonight on the Bishop High track and clocked a 5:55.7. I have a year to shave 55 seconds. A full minute if I want to replicate the high school performance. Wish me luck.
In my own version of mountain-man mediocrity, the number 5 as a benchmark seems to exist at the fringe of difficulty. A 5000 foot ski day is hard but not ever impossible. WI 5 is the upper limit of my ice climbing accomplishment. Mixed climbing, same number.
Given all that, I'll wrap my goals for this year around número cinco (or multiples thereof). Some of these benchmarks I have already achieved and will be somewhat easy to replicate. Those that I have not yet reached, by my estimation, will require a similar amount of training and skill work as the others.
My list, for 2013:
5000 foot ski tour in 5 hours, car to car.
15000 feet of ski touring in a day, on multiple peaks (few, if any "laps" on repeated terrain).
50 mile run
5.10 rock climbing: face, crack, etc.
WI 5 ice leading.
Skiing a sustained 50 degree pitch.
V5 bouldering
M5 mixed/dry-tool leading
5 minute mile
This latter-most may be the outlier, and a personal story here may be what got the ball rolling on this whole rule of 5 mission. In high school, at good old MCS, we would run a mile every year. The school didn't have a "proper" track. But the "mile" was widely held to be two complete laps around the athletic fields. One year, my time over that course was 4:55. Not a bad time, if it were indeed an actual mile. That shadow of a doubt has been a bit haunting. What if it was shorter? What if it was longer? In any event, any chance of replicating or measuring the actual course was preempted with the construction of the school expansion there. With a high school track just across town here in Bishop, and an apparently world class track up in Mammoth, I have no excuse now for not giving it a go. I ran tonight on the Bishop High track and clocked a 5:55.7. I have a year to shave 55 seconds. A full minute if I want to replicate the high school performance. Wish me luck.