Zen and the Art of Speedskating

Morning sun bright, spilling into the Salt Lake Valley. Riding into work via my normal route, a line appears on the asphalt that has not been there before.

Hmmmm… I start daydreaming, thinking of the inner lane at the 400m oval. My pace picks up. The line is a guide, it’s the edge of a fast lap in a race, the line is the edge of my life.

Next thing I know, I’m clipping along race pace, that pleasure-pain Masohedonist part of the athletes brain alive & glittering-

It’s the last lap of the 1000m at Masters sprint worlds, I’m earning the strength for it right here, right now.

Then I look up.

This new bike lane is being created only moments ahead of me.

Lines to follow are only useful to a certain extent. Daydreaming about racing is only useful to a certain extent. Sometimes the lines disappear, or the smooth road ends, and you must forge your own path. Not just the road less traveled, but at times you must make your own road.

Arriving at work, I dismount off the bike, lungs still tinged with fire, and unsteadily clack into the office in my cycling shoes, starting another day at the keyboard.

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7:30am, in the park, warmed up & starting a dryland workout…

The baby is joyously learning how to crawl on a blanket near me, and making noises that sound more happy baby Pterodactyl than human.

I start a set of bounding hops, thinking about the upcoming season, imagining myself on the ice during important races. Under 4 months till Olympic trials, and I need to get my butt in gear.

Behind me, I hear my little Arzelia start chuckling & laughing at her silly, silly daddy.

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Finding an unpublished image of Eric Heiden is quite unusual, as he retired 28 years ago.

Even more unusual is this is Eric in one of his very last speedskating competitions. This is the world Allaround Championships 2 weeks after the Olympic games in Lake Placid. I love the outdoor rink with the crowds sitting right on the ice

I send a huge thanks to Dutch Photographer Peter Van Balen for this image.

The more I know this sport, the more I am amazed at what Eric’s career was like. He was like a runner who essentially won everything from the 100m dash to the 10k. Amazing.

The fascinating thing about this photo, is that this was a day that Eric did not win. And there is another bit of information just became public recently, about how the Dutchman responsible for refrigerating the rink cheated, turning off the refrigeration, and as the ice got softer & softer, it slowed Eric down. He was 2nd overall in the allarounds, by a small margin.

Here is what Peter says about that day, and the picture.

Looking back the picture must have been taking at Heiden’s LAST world championship; also in Heerenveen, but in 1980. (in 1977 he skated in blue and I didn’t have a telezoom for my camera yet).

He was second, about the only time he was beaten; however, this was apparently not just due to his post-Olympics busy weeks (the WC were only 2 weeks later) and his lesser motivation (according to himself), but also, not known to him as far as I know, to the fact that the guy responsible for the (ice) rink maintenance decided (he admitted later) to change the ice preparation schedule on the last distance (10k), thus benefiting the later (Dutch) winner, Hilbert van der Duim.

-Peter

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I am thankful I did not have to explain the concept of the Intensive Care Unit to RZ. I am thankful that at 4 months old she does not understand what is happening.

Although Jessica said she would sometimes catch her baby looking over at her in the hospital bed, with a sad expression.

I don’t want the terrible memories of the last few days to stay in my mind with any clarity. I want them to all go away, so I will not write them down.

But in the most general narrative, the story is this: for 4 days Jessica was not able to eat or drink anything; she was in terrible pain or completely out of it on heavy pain meds. Finally today her system got back on track.

She was able to eat & drink a little, and has improved measurably.

Jess could even walk… We had feared that she would end up with severe nerve damage in her feet from the arthritis, one of her feet has been completely numb for weeks, but that also seems to be slowly getting better.

The ICU is an awfully depressing place, and I am so thankful the Doctors are discharging her tomorrow.

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If you hear hoofbeats in Central Park, think Horses- not Zebras. –

Oft repeated medical saying

What the above quote means is that in most medical cases the correct diagnosis is usually the simplest & most straightforward answer.

However there are some cases where the doctor looks you in the eye and says, as one just did to Jess: “You qualify as one of the most unusual 4-5 cases I have seen in my 30 years of practicing medicine.”

In short, Jessica is a Zebra.

It took the doctors four different treatments until they found something to help with her painful & shifting arthritis. So far, the only thing that has brought her relief is a strong dose of prednisone.

But there are now a host of other issues. Some are probably side effects of the various treatments/drugs that were tried, some could be related to whatever the underlying mystery condition is.

One good thing is that when a Zebra sighting is confirmed, the specialist Zebra hunters are alerted. After a late night emergency room visit, the word & call is out, and we are having multiple visits with specialists over the next few days.

This is not the time to be watching episodes of the TV medical-drama “House”. The reality sucks. Wish us luck…

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This is Jessica checking in here. I appreciate all the concerned responses to the post about my medical condition, and all the good will/emails coming from all directions feel great.

Andrew can be a little intense in his expression of concern for me, so I wanted to give my own view of what is happening. There has been a flurry of interest on the part of specialists, as my symptoms continue to not respond to treatment. I have some interesting tests coming up tomorrow which should provide a narrowed focus for further investigation.

My symptoms are no fun, and I rely heavily on my mother and my mother in-law, who have both recently visited. Andrew has been a fantastic support, and even sacrificed a very important speed-skating related trip to Norway to help take care of me. He is understandably stressed out.

Baby RZ is doing great. She’s getting a lot of grandma time, and loves all the attention. Right now the assumption is that I have a condition that is temporary. Until we have reason to believe otherwise, the expectation is that all this will eventually resolve. I’m trying hard to be positive, and some days are better than others.

We will keep everybody posted as soon as there’s news worth “printing!”

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P.S. These pictures are worth printing right now, here is RZ & my Mom. RZ is deploying her 1000 watt smile!

RZ & Me, a few moments after this picture were taken, she reached out, and grabbed my glasses right off my face. I was so proud of her; I did not mind my complete blindness.

I’ve been under so much stress, I think I’ve lived in this same comfy sweatshirt and hat for the last month.

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