Mt Baker - Day 17 (Oh My God!)

All this talk about movie legends of yesteryear is hopefully behind me for at least a little while. I now am back in the real world. I wake up to write today's blog. In keeping with standard operating procedure, I count the days until I climb. Not too long ago it was 84 days. Remember that?. The discussion that day was The Painted Veil, an allegory for why in the world I would want to climb some majestic peak at my age.Then there was day 64 on self-arrest and how George Mallory and crew may not have used the technique to their avail when only 800 feet from the summit of Mt Everest. Then there was day 44 on Storm Clouds Ahead, a series of blogs on the knowledge that can be applied to predicting the fickle weather when camped in some desolate location on the mountain side. And guess what, I now have a little over 14 days to go. Oh my God!! I worry about my conditioning. Do I have the necessary strength and mental endurance? Will my body give out someplace near the summit and they have to helicopter me down to safety? I do recall that I have been pretty religious in daily routines; aerobic, core training, weights, anaerobic, and hiking specific exercises. But what do I have to show for it? Yesterday, I could barely lift my left arm. My shoulder is killing me. My left biceps hurts like a son-of-a-bitch every time I try to curl even modest weight. My left knee hurts with any pressure, I suspect some irritated deteriorating cartilage on the top of my tibia. My guess is I also have a stress fracture of my left foot. Can't put any weight on dorsiflexed toes without significant discomfort. The only exercise left that I can perform without aggravation is possibly to roll over, slowly and carefully. And to think I will be climbing to 12,000 feet after a 12 hour approach to base camp. The good news is the right side of my body feels just fine. Remember those three legged races in which we used to compete during our younger days; two people standing together side by side, the inner leg of each tied together to jointly share both the burden and the restraint. We'd tear off, or should I say hobble off, to the finish line. I wonder if that arrangement can be applied to mountaineering. Let me know if there is a volunteer out there in reasonable shape with a functioning left side of his or her body. I could use the help.