Eye of the Tiger

In the summer of 1982 I was 15 years old and took up boxing. My career trajectory consisted of 5 main events: I went to the mall to see the greatest movie of all time, Rocky III; I walked out of the theater and straight into the sporting goods store across from it to buy a cheap pair of boxing gloves; I visited the record shop to pick up a 45 RPM recording of Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger”; I went home to begin training; and finally I retired with a record of 0 Wins- 0 Losses- and 1 Draw.

When the Rocky movies were at their peak in popularity they served to influence a lot of kids my age. They were cool, exciting and had a singular message throughout them all- that if you pour your heart and soul into any endeavor, no matter how badly the odds are stacked against you, you’ll come away from the experience better for having tried. Notice I didn’t say you’ll succeed. Spoiler Alert from the original 1977 film: Rocky loses. But he did manage to do something no other fighter had done before. He went the distance, meaning he didn’t get Knocked Out by the undefeated champion Apollo Creed.

Y’all, it feels like this thru-hike is knocking me out! After suffering Norovirus, after losing Sapling… well, now I’m dealing with yet another setback in the form of a torn muscle in my lower left leg. If this was in fact a boxing match then technically the referee could have ended it by now. In order to protect fighters many bouts have a three knockdown rule. If you fall to your knees three times it’s over. Thank goodness an AT thru-hike works a little differently. But my stated dream of making it to Katahdin from start to finish in 2023 is beginning to seem precarious. Not only will I need to still be standing come October, but I’ll need to be doing so atop that iconic brown sign on the mountain’s summit.

I can’t specifically say what caused my leg to start hurting, but I’ll cop to blaming myself for it. The most likely culprit was jumping from 12 to 14 mile hiking days straight into 20 and 25 mile ones so quickly. Plus I was becoming more aggressive with my pace on the downhills. Then I do have one potential scapegoat in the form of a Tick I found attached at the same spot the pain is emanating from. However, it wasn’t attached all that long and didn’t leave a mark once removed. Regardless, I hiked into Damascus Monday feeling like I was being stabbed in the leg with every step.

When I arrived at Lady Di’s hostel and she was checking me in I learned she’d successfully thru-hiked Nobo in 2021. So I asked if she had any ideas about my issue. I pulled my pant leg up to show her and was alarmed to see a clearly swollen and discolored circular patch about 3” in diameter just on the outside of my lower left shin. She wasn’t sure what to make of it but said during her hike she’d suffered Shin Splints that put her off trail for 5 days, which at the time sounded like a disaster to me. At this point I can only wish it would have been 5 days.

Lady Di was awesome and helped me get situated. After showering and attending to my laundry she got me an ice pack and I rested and elevated the injury for several hours. That gave me a chance to come up with a plan. On Tuesday morning I’d visit The Damascus Outfitters to pick up fresh shoes and get some sort of compression to wrap around the injury. Then I’d hike out that afternoon and set up camp so Wednesday morning I could meet my cousin George 12 miles to the north of town on Highway 58. This had already been scheduled as he was on business not too far away and wanted to meet up for lunch and a few miles of hiking. Depending on how I felt at that point I’d either continue, or worst case scenario have him drive me back to my parents’ house in Raleigh since he’d be passing by on his way home.

I left town Tuesday around 1:30 and purposefully kept my pace much slower than normal. I stayed far to the right of the trail as it was shared real estate with The Virginia Creeper Trail and bicyclists were whizzing by every few minutes. Unfortunately this distracted me and I didn’t see where the AT split off. I continued on the Creeper trail for almost another mile before realizing I was going the wrong way and had to backtrack. Not optimal given my leg situation, though up to this point it was feeling 75% better than the previous day. At least the extra distance was on terrain that paralleled the River and was extremely flat to walk on.

But hikers descend into most major towns and then have to climb back out of them. At less than 2k feet elevation Damascus was no exception and I had a lot of uphill in store for me before reaching the chosen campsite near the rendezvous point with my cousin the next day. After another hour passed I had fleeting hope my leg might not be a major issue after all. I was still hiking slowly and the injury felt about the same as it had along the River. But those sensations were to be as short lived as the reprieve from elevation gain.  Soon enough the pain began to come upon me by degrees. After another uphill hour passed by I was feeling nauseous with every step.

About this time I happened upon a young couple I’d seen on the streets and in the Dollar General back in Damascus. He was filtering water and she was rubbing her shin while sitting on a rock. They introduced themselves as Anderson and Jessica, and then I bizarrely added, “Nice to meet you guys, I’m Captain Fantastic.” I asked how they were and was taken aback when Jessica said her lower leg was in so much pain she could barely walk. I explained how I had the same issue and by that point I’d planned on getting off trail with my cousin the next morning. I offered up his shuttling services to them in case they needed a way to get off too. They were heading up to Saunders Shelter about 2.5 miles short of where my cousin would appear the next day, but I said if they wanted a ride then be at the Highway 58 pull-off by 9:30am.

I said my goodbyes then slowly and painfully hiked towards my own pre-planned destination known as Stagnant Pond. I arrived just before dark and it matched the description someone posted about it on FarOut- Creepy. The opening scene of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth begins with three witches standing around a boiling cauldron chanting, “Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble…” Stagnant Pond would be the perfect place to shoot that scene into a movie. I quickly pitched my tent and decided to do something I’d only done once in two months, build a fire. Being alone in this spooky place I hoped it would provide some much needed positive energy- and it did thank goodness.

I survived the night and next morning I packed up and headed the quarter mile over to the pick-up-point. I was mildly surprised to see Jessica and Anderson waiting there already. Within a minute George pulled up and I introduced everyone. As I knew he would, George eagerly agreed to help out our new friends. He took his Trail Angel duties seriously too, including paying for everyone’s breakfast at the  Damascus Diner; driving Jessica and Anderson all the way to Marion, Va, where they checked into the Red Roof Inn near an Urgent Care; and then taking me to my parents’ house in Raleigh. George, you were amazing. Sorry we couldn’t do a little AT hiking together as we’d planned. Thanks Cuz!

The next morning I visited the EmergeOrtho clinic and saw a Physician’s Assistant named Jason Coggins. I described what was going on and was happy to learn he’d actually done a 75 mile backpacking trip on the AT himself a few years ago. He did x-rays and then poked and squeezed my leg to elicit reactions. He said the potential options were Shin Splints, a stress fracture or muscle injury. He thought mine was the muscle injury, though all of them required a similar treatment: 2 to 8 weeks rest, alternating cold and heat applications, and elevating the leg often. He told me to wait a couple weeks and if it felt better to put on my pack and try a day hike. If that went okay then I’d be clear to get back on trail. I was thankful he’d had some backpacking experience and wasn’t playing it overly conservative.

So here I sit, typing this blog amidst the creature comforts of civilization and not perched atop a rock or within my tent. It’s been great to see my wife, parents and friends. But I feel frustrated and all out of sorts. 

Rocky III flipped the script on the theme of the franchise’s first two installments. In those movies Rocky was the underdog. But by the third film a decade had passed and Rocky had become a Fat Cat champion. He’d gotten overconfident and lazy. He’d lost the Eye of the Tiger. And then along came a hungry young fighter named Clubber Lang who was brimming with confidence. He knocked Rocky out and took his crown. 

In the rematch there was a crucial moment in which despite Rocky regaining his Mojo he was still losing the fight. Lang was too strong and too fast for him. In my favorite scene of the movie Apollo, now Rocky’s coach, stares on in disbelief as Clubber lands punch after punch at will. He turns to Rocky’s ne’er-do-well brother-in-law Paulie and in exasperated fashion declares, “He’s getting killed!?!”

Paulie confidently replies, “Oh nooo… he’s not gettin’ killed… he’s gettin’ MAD!!!” 

And then of course Rocky uses this beating to fuel an amazing comeback to regain his champion’s title.

And that’s where I’m at right now, a former kid of the 80s who grew up on these Rocky movies with a sense that my thru hike odds are starting to stack up against me. Like my fictional movie hero I’ve taken a beating, some if it self-inflicted through overconfidence, and I’m gettin’ mad. Mad at myself for being too gonzo with my body and mad at the Norovirus for coming at me so hard. Mad that 500 miles may be all I get if my leg doesn’t heal soon.. Mad that I’m spending half of the best hiking month on a couch! I’m desperate to get out of this air-conditioned apartment with a fridge full of cold drinks, pantry full of snacks, shower and laundry, unlimited electricity and WiFi, and a soft and cozy bed. I need another chance to try and finish what I’ve set out to do. That means I’m still hungry for gettin’ wet, gettin’ cold, gettin’ hot, gettin’ sore, gettin’ skeeter bitten and more. I’m still hungry for a chance to finish.

Now I just need another go. Even with all my setbacks I’ve still got the Eye of the Tiger!

Notes:

***If I’m blessed enough to heal sooner rather than later then I’m done thinking about ambitious timelines for finishing! My daily average is woeful after so many days off. I need to get into a flow state of sustainable hiking that goes uninterrupted, unlike anything I’ve experienced thus far. Once I get that going I just hope to walk in linear fashion all the way North before Katahdin closes.

***Anderson texted to say Jessica is feeling somewhat better. They stayed at the Red Roof Inn for 5 days while she rested and saw a doctor who gave her a prednisone injection to reduce the inflammation. She did 4 miles Monday and a dozen the next. If I run across them again I’ll hopefully have some trail name suggestions ready.

***In case you were wondering how I earned my draw in the boxing match, here’s the deal. My training regimen consisted of shadow boxing in my bedroom while I played the Eye of the Tiger song over and over. I’d bounce back and forth, ducking and weaving and throwing punches at an imaginary opponent or even my reflection in the mirror. At some point that proved unsatisfying so I started mixing in left-handed jabs and right-handed hooks against my light blue bedroom walls.

Pop… pop… bang!

Pop… pop… bang!

Pop… pop… crack?

I very clearly remember the moment I got carried away and my gloved hand sank right between the studs and through the drywall. My parents weren’t going to be happy! In a panic I pulled a poster from a basketball magazine in my closet and carefully pinned it over the hole. It caused me enough anxiety through the rest of my teens that the wall got me as good as I got it. Hence the Draw. 

And yeah- my dad called me up about 8 years later when they went to sell the house and asked me all about the hole in the wall. Busted!

Thanks for reading-

Captain Fantastic