Thursday, March 27, 2008

Longest Day Ever!


Nothing could have prepared me for this. Not "Fran" or "Murph" not even "Run 10k".

Today was day one of a 65-mile archaeological survey in southern Utah. This is strictly a work-related trip of course. The survey is basically a long walk/hike along an area that will potentially be stripped of its cultural resources by future construction plans. Our job is to record prehistoric and historic sites before they are destroyed and lost forever.

Normally we spread the work out over the course of a few weeks, knocking off 3-5miles a day, depending on how often we have to stop to record sites. But today was not a typical day, by far.

We set out at about 10 this morning and with no sites in sight we kept on trucking, by 3pm my backpack felt like a small child on my back and I swear my feet were bleeding! Okay, my feet weren't bleeding, but really who could have guessed that walking could be sooo painful? Its just walking after all. I guess I should also explain that we were walking in sand dunes; an absolutely unforgiving terrain! Plus the wind and chilly weather didn't make it any easier! Oh and I ran out of water about a third of the way into the hike.

At the end of the day we had covered 27K!
Aside from being physically demanding it was a huge mental challenge. Off to bed!

2 comments:

Mike Minium said...

'Cita,

Rest up and take care of yourself.

That's a ton of work.

And as a side note, where's the coaching? Tell that person who's bent over to stay on the heels!

Mike Minium said...

Rippetoe stretch!

Your genes load the gun but your lifestyle pulls the trigger. -Dr. Houston