Karen's Journey

Thursday, August 2, 2012 Just below treeline on Algonquin, April 30, 1999.   For my 40th birthday, I climbed Algonquin, New York's second highest mountain and the only other one that tops out at more than 5,000 feet. Forty might have arrived, but I wasn't going to let it conquer me. I was prepared for my forties to be a strong decade of running PRs and mountain conquests. One week prior to that birthday I had set my official mile PR. A couple of weeks later, I set an official PR for the 5K. Yes, my forties were going to be great! Little did I know that my forty-year-old body had other thoughts. I spent most of that decade limping around with plantar fasciitis -- an inflammation of the large tendon that runs along the bottom of the foot -- four years in my left foot, and then, after four months of blessed relief, another four years in my right foot. When I was 49, I "cured" it by running a 200 meter race all out and tearing it, and in the process breaking ...

Wednesday, August 1, 2012 The first day of August is a scheduled day of rest to allow our legs, knees, and feet to recuperate between upward -- and then downward -- bound outings. Not that the kids need one, but the old people do. We think we'll take them on a train ride. Trains are fun after all. Who wouldn't want to enjoy a nice leisurely train ride from Lake Placid to Saranac Lake and back, stopping long enough in Saranac Lake to get ice cream at the local Stewart's? How can you see a train and not feel a tingle of excitement? Especially if  Thomas the Train   and Dinosaur Train are two of your favorite TV shows? Curses, foiled again. We call the other family condo to see if niece Bearies's little sister, Piggyback, age eight, wants to come with us. No, I am told, oldest nephew Long Legs, age 30-ish, is taking her hiking up Mount Marcy. MOUNT MARCY? With an eight-year-old? Hearing the news, I am horrified. Mount Marcy is the tallest mountain in New...

Tuesday, July 31, 2012 Before summer began, I had planned on taking T up his first High Peak -- Cascade -- but a case of extremely painful knees sidelined those hopes -- no ability to get myself or anyone else into High Peak climbing condition. Two and a half weeks before heading out I finally went to the doctor to find out what the crippling pain was all about and why it wasn't going away. The verdict: chondromalacia patella -- an inflammation of the cartilage under my kneecaps -- with a possible torn meniscus, caused by all things, excessive gardening. Great. I told the doctors they had to put me back together again enough to allow me to hike at least a few easy hikes. I was not going to the Adirondacks to sit around playing cards in the lodge all day. One cortisone shot, two anti-inflammatory medications, two knee braces, a pair of spring-loaded hiking poles, and the sage words from the orthopedist that, "You'll get up OK, it'll be coming down that will b...