Several people emailed me and asked about the level of anxiety Bill and Quinn had as they started this swim from Kaho'olawe to Lana'i. If you didn't see it yet, check out this video Quinn put together.
No anxiety at all. Just a casual excitement about their adventure.
WHY do this? Well, Bill explained it in his last post and maybe Quinn will too in a day or two. This adventure wasn't my idea but I was very excited about helping my friends out in any way I could. In the movie "Riding Giants" Laird Hamilton and his wife are talking about how bad Laird feels when the surf isn't huge. They make the analogy of a dragon slayer with no more dragons to slay. What now? After the initial panic and bad mood I'm sure he'd get into some extreme sport.
Bill's wife Pat was, out of love, very concerned for him. And his response was, "this is who I am."
Most of the time, and I know friends and family will knowingly smile when they read this, I'm very quiet and introverted. I like peaceful evenings with family and mostly listen to mellower classical music (like a Mendelssohn violin Concerto) and I almost wrote a Literature and Poetry blog instead of this one and probably will someday. But adventure and pushing things to the physical limit is part of who I am. It's something like hunger or sexual desire. I don't think I could define myself solely by this need but I can't go too long without it either. So eating, sex and adventure . . . its just part who I am.
And if Hawaii were invaded by a hoard of dragons for some of us it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
So, to feed my need for adventure, on June 7th I'm going to have a race with the Sun. I'm starting from Magic Island at dawn. I'll run across the park, through the Ala Moana Mall, across town, up the mountains, down the other side to Kailua and run to Kailua Beach Park where I will have my paddelboard waiting and will paddle back to Magic Island, hopefully before the Sun sets. And if I encounter any dragons along the way . . .
4 comments:
,...take a sword! Jeff, although I hear Dragons don't like the taste of humans.
Anyway, in the spirit of adventure several lifeguards we work with are going to follow Bill's cue and are embarking on a Na Pali Coast Swim! Mitch, Kirk, Blane and Ian of Rescue 1.
wow.
In my case, I'll wait for the adventure to come to me, as in a big South!!!!!!!
good luck, Jeff on your Mountain, Ocean biathlon.
I'd like to know what fellow lifeguards thing of your new adventure. In your circles is this no big deal?
I don't think you can do it before the sun sets. The run will take 8 hours and the paddle at least 7. Is there any place I can make a wager on this?
Bryan
I'll bet and loser gives the money to charity. Email me.
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