Run Forrest Run
A man who went on a hike and never stopped
11–20 of 38 posts
Re: A man who went on a hike and never stopped
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
My gut reaction was that it's not so different from swimmers shaving their entire bodies for increased speed and mobility in the water.
It is probably more than that. I have health issues that tend to negatively impact nail growth. In my youth, my nails grew slowly and tended to be paper thin. Keeping them trimmed and short was not very challenging. After getting a proper diagnosis in my mid thirties, I have gotten steadily healthier since then. Living without a car and doing a LOT of walking has played a significant role in my improved health. One u…
What was your diagnosis?
Re: A man who went on a hike and never stopped
#13I love this attitude:
Earlier, I had asked him if he was afraid to die. He shook his head. “Nah, I don’t think so,” he said. He told me his grandfather had died in the woods (of a heart attack while hunting), his father had died in the woods (of a chainsaw accident while gathering firewood), and he was “working on it”.
Re: A man who went on a hike and never stopped
#14I like this perspective. Eberhart takes it to an extreme but it seems worth reflecting on:
"Shaving down one’s pack weight, he said, was a process of sloughing off one’s fears. Each object a person carries represents a particular fear: of injury, of discomfort, of boredom, of attack."
Re: A man who went on a hike and never stopped
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is probably more than that. I have health issues that tend to negatively impact nail growth. In my youth, my nails grew slowly and tended to be paper thin. Keeping them trimmed and short was not very challenging. After getting a proper diagnosis in my mid thirties, I have gotten steadily healthier since then. Living without a car and doing a LOT of walking has played a significant role in my improved health. One u…
What was your diagnosis?
That isn't really pertinent to the discussion. Though I will note that respiratory problems, blood sugar issues and circulatory problems are all known to cause things like clubbing and are generally associated with negative impacts to the digits, both hands and feet. In fact, high blood sugar disturbingly often leads to such serious foot problems that foot amputation, in part or in whole, is a very real risk for someone with inadequately controlled blood sugar.
Re: A man who went on a hike and never stopped
#16I find it interesting that the author repeatedly emphasizes the toenail removal. For ultramarathon runners, this is not particularly unusual ( https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/heal... ).
Toenails are a pain for runners. Do they have any purpose with shoes? I dont think so...
I have been running happily for years without shoes or with only minimal footwear and initially transitioned to doing so because I suffered from pain in my ankles. Perhaps if you're a runner and your toenails cause problems, you might want to give it a try, too.
Re: A man who went on a hike and never stopped
#17I find it interesting that the author repeatedly emphasizes the toenail removal. For ultramarathon runners, this is not particularly unusual ( https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/heal... ).
Toenails are a pain for runners. Do they have any purpose with shoes? I dont think so...
I had to have a large toenail removed as it grew back weirdly after it was broken at the quick. The surgeon said that there are no side-effects unless you're an elite athlete, in which case you'd lose a tiny bit of burst power.
I'm far from an elite athlete; so if I was a hobbit, these days you'd call me Vacri Nine-Toenails.
Re: A man who went on a hike and never stopped
#18As we walked, Eberhart recounted his travels thus far. He had begun 46 days earlier at the southern terminus of the Continental Divide trail. From there, he headed east, through the blackened badlands of New Mexico, through the gateway city of El Paso, and on to an endless spread of dry dun plains. The traffic consisted almost entirely of semi-trailer trucks surging past every 10 seconds at speeds of a 100 miles per…
I'm guessing it's 100 km/h and got mangled when crossing the Atlantic.
It's just hyperbole.
The English use miles per hour there's literally no reason for it.
Also having driven the one road in Texas with speed limits that high, semi-trucks do not go 85mph. I was not passed once, nor had a semi-truck gain on me. It's simply not fuel efficient for trucks to go that fast (nor cars honestly). ~75mph maybe... to make up time but faster than that and fuel efficiency is surely so bad they lose time having to refuel.
Towns are also so sparse and far between the danger of running out of gas is real with moderately poor planning.
Re: A man who went on a hike and never stopped
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Toenails are a pain for runners. Do they have any purpose with shoes? I dont think so...
I have been running happily for years without shoes or with only minimal footwear and initially transitioned to doing so because I suffered from pain in my ankles. Perhaps if you're a runner and your toenails cause problems, you might want to give it a try, too.
That's my hypothesis about toenails as well. If your shoes toebox is smashing up your toes, well duh, your toenails are going to get fucked up.
My partner is a marathoner, she's close to finishing a marathon in all 50 states. I transitioned her to minimalist shoes, lems primal, at the beginning of this year. She went from killing her toenails about every 2 weeks to zero toenail problems. Also pretty cool, she's stopped feeling the need to take painkillers during her races.
It's really sad the amount of misinformation exists regarding the minimalist shoe and barefoot movement. They've helped me overcome foot, ankle, knee, hip, and back pain. Thyeve helped my mother overcome knee pain, she's got really stronger feet and ankles now. Xeroshoes are making great products right now and doubled their revenue from last year, so proud of them! Luna sandals are also doing quite well despite all the negative information. Here's to hoping that in 30 years were all wearing shoes actually designed for our feet!!
Re: A man who went on a hike and never stopped
#20"He also held a dogged belief in personal freedom, including the freedom to pollute the atmosphere with fossil fuels." Didn't see that coming.
It's the freedom to, not necessarily the goodness of doing it. He's just on the conservative/libertarian side of things.