Tying your shoelaces

Two weeks before I moved from San Francisco to Japan I decided to challenge myself.  I was going to walk 20 miles per day for 10 days.  The distance from my apartment across the Golden Gate Bridge and back was roughly 20 miles.  The challenge was to do this for 10 days.  It would end up costing almost 5 hours per day but my iPod was speaking Japanese, my running shoes were equipped, and the sandwiches and Cliff Bars were all packed.  I was ready for my challenge!

When I started walking I never imagined that it would become a physical challenge.  I'm no athlete but I'm in really good condition for a guy that spends most of his life sitting.  My intuition was that distance walking was relatively easy and that 5 consecutive hours of it everyday would simply be a psychological challenge.  If I quit it would be from boredom and not from the physical stress.

As it turns out walking 5 hours by yourself is boring.  Luckily I had the Golden Gate Bridge to keep me company.  If you've ever visited or lived in San Francisco you're probably familiar with the strange weather patterns.  One minute it can be sunny and hot.  The next minute it can be cold, rainy, and cloudy.  The quickly shifting weather patterns and fog rolling in and out of the bay made for some breathtaking views that helped pass the time.  It was an experience that makes me happy when I think about it.  Every day was unique.  It feels strange for me to say now but there was something spiritual about it.

By the 6th day I could barely walk.  Wearing a brand new knee and ankle brace I limped to the bus stop to meet a friend for brunch.  I'm fortunate that he convinced me that it would be foolish to continue my challenge.  I'm a pretty stubborn guy but he asserted that I risked permanent injury and I believed him.  After all, I tied my shoelaces too tight causing the tendons in my ankle to become inflamed.

My ankle was full of fluid and I could hear it creak every time I moved it.  The change was so gradual over the course of 100 miles that I hardly noticed until it was too late.  The soreness I experienced after walking felt natural to me at the time.  I can sleep it off, I thought.  It's probably just muscle soreness.  It took over a month for my ankle to completely heal and I enjoyed my last week in San Francisco with a limp.

Sometimes I can only see the big picture.  The details of a journey are simply variables for a future postmortem analysis.  It's important to monitor the details, especially when we're tired and everything seems to be going according to plan.  The warning signs of a problem can be so subtle that our intuition tells us to ignore it.  I think it's true in many aspects of our lives: health, business, relationships, and even language learning.  Everything we experience gives us subtle cues about the condition of our future.  My older sister taught me how to tie my shoelaces over 20 years ago.  As I discovered, tying your shoelaces for 20 years doesn't always make you an expert shoelacer.

I feel very nostalgic about the week I walked across the Golden Gate Bridge.  I look forward to doing it again one day.  Next time I'll check my laces.