Sunday, July 10, 2011

Golden Gate & West Mag

Some photos from a hike in Golden Gate Park 2 weeks ago.

Continental Divide


Another view



Wild Iris



Wild Collie Flower



Beautiful hike but so steep, I was sore for 2 days afterwards.  Strummer barely noticed.

Yesterday was a steep long climb on my mountain bike in West Mag up to the Toilet Bowl.  I didn't have the beans to take too many photos but I did manage to snap a pretty meadow filled with wildflowers.



Two hour bike ride then 53 minute trail run up and down a steep ass hill then passed out on the couch with a belly full of food for the rest of the day.  I managed not to pass out in Chipotle this time.  Was supposed to be a 3 hour bike ride and 1 hour run according to my training program but between the elevation (around 8500 ft) and the long steepy steep hills this was enough self-flagellation for one day.  Actually it was a fabulous day on the trails, bike was fun, run went well, I'm lucky to have such a beautiful place to train only 40 minutes away.

2 weeks until my little on road sprint tri and 4 weeks until my real off road race.  And there's one day of a DOCNA trial tucked in there somewhere.  Better get back to that wretched dogwalk training.  And I'm happy to report no fledgling carcasses in my yard this week.  Or husband carcasses.  It turns out I can do the Heimlich maneuver.  Or something approaching the Heimlich maneuver, I'm not really sure what exactly it was that I did but Jonny was choking on something, like the kind of choking where the person can't talk or cough or wheeze, and then I did something and then he wasn't choking anymore.  Where my clarity in an emergency comes from I have no idea.

6 comments:

  1. Oh, jeez, Elayne, scary about Jonny! I'm so glad everything's fine! Such a narrow line between, oh, there was something stuck and we got it out, huh, interesting story, and OMG someone died and everyone's lives changed. That's the 2nd story in 2 weeks of soemone I know being involved in heinlich maneuvering--another friend apparently had friends trying the heimlich & it wasn't working and a stranger in the restaurant succeeded and saved her. Just, wow. In theory I know how to do it. That deserves a big congratulations.

    Oh, and gorgeous photos especially the collie flower.

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  2. Oh, and BTW, Golden Gate Park REALLY looks like this (at least, one tiny piece of it): http://elf1.smugmug.com/Nature/Golden-Gate-Park-Conservatory/. Funny that there's another Golden Gate Park nowhere near the Golden Gate! :-)

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  3. I've been to the other Golden Gate Park but it was a long time ago for a wedding. Very pretty as well. The park by me is technically Golden Gate State Park so it's a little different. It's up a canyon from Golden which is probably where it's name comes from.

    Jonny's fine. He claims he could have pulled the food out of his throat if he'd had to (was a long stringy piece of green leafy vegetable). Now I'm a little worried though that the Heimlich doesn't always work. I was officially taught it back when I was 12 but I've never had to do it before last week.

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  4. I think i've heard it described that doing it right requires enough upward, sudden force to really bruise the body. Depends on how stuck the stuff is, I guess.

    It's certainly possible that it doesn't work all the time. However, working often is better than nothing, which is what we had before this came along.

    This seems like a good refresher site: http://www.googobits.com/articles/p0-7-how-to-perform-the-heimlich-maneuver.html

    I didn't remember that it could be used for severe asthma attacks or drowning.

    I can't believe how long the pounding-on-the-back strategy has persisted--I've snapped at people (when I can breathe again after a coughing fit) about trying to kill me by knocking stuff further down into my throat.

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  5. And yet, hmm, here's an interesting one with different point of views (after I've found several articles that talk about backslapping only with the victim leaning forward if possible still being a medically approved way of removing obstructions, interesting): http://forums.emsworld.com/archive/index.php/t-86392.html

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  6. Interesting, it never would occur to me to slap a choking person on the back because I was taught the Heimlich at such an early age. Plus you never see back slapping on t.v. and we all know that t.v. is the ultimate authority.

    I certainly didn't use enough force to cause Jonny any bruising. I guess it depends on what's causing the blockage and how tightly it's lodged. Though with my big meaty man arms these days maybe I don't know my own strength.

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