Sunrise, Sunset

Day 60 and the terminus of the Hard Things project. It would have been great to finish the 60 days with a 24 hour hard thing that used up everything I had left after 59 days of plugging through hard things, but, 60 year old people (even 40 year old people) have to be mindful of avoiding injury.  The personalization of training and goals can get so lost in the era of blanket media coverage, but doing hard things is about doing something that is hard for you personally, without regard to what the clamor of media implies you should be doing.

Candice Burt, now at day 139 of her ultra-marathon streak recently wrote: “I never aim for fast as I’d quickly enter depletion and injury if I did. Easy to moderate is always the pace. It’s just not worth risking going fast.” The moral is, even an athlete who appears superhuman (Candace passed the world record for most consecutive ultra-marathons around three months ago), must practice some body wisdom to avoid injury.

I marked Day 60 of the Hard Things project by book-ending two hard things across the day. At 6 am, in full dark, I wheeled my kayak down to the beach and set off to sea. Sunrise on the water is always wonderful, but the time between dark and light can be disorienting. Paddling out in full dark, with no moon, it is easy to lose your equilibrium and feel unsteady and unstable. There was a reasonably long period two metre swell rolling over the ocean but no wind so the surface of the water was almost oily calm. Leaving the bay, a school of fish, jumped and flashed around the boat while an Australasian Gannet, its buff-yellow plumage just visible, flew over. The water was warm as my hands dipped in. Lightening flashed through a dark cloud out behind Black Rock.

Near days end, I walked westward, along rock platforms and beaches up to a viewpoint from whence I could watch the sun set. The harsh Australian sun softens in the evening and misty amber light was picking out colors in the rocks and trees that are normally washed out by bright sunlight. Wisps of mist floated along the hills behind town as I turned and walked back home, the project complete.