Traveling Without Moving

In the 1984 Sci-Fi classic movie Dune a planet is at war over the “Spice.” The Spice enables a person to “Travel Without Moving.” I have always had trouble just getting my head around that concept and I find myself thinking of it often. Seems like a really cool idea. Well today I get to experience something pretty close. I am traveling to Atlanta later today and with my crutches moving is challenging. I could really use the Spice right now.

I am by any definition a frequent traveler. Marie (BTW she prefers her other name, FL) says I am a High Roller. I have all the perks that come with a job like mine including premium status on airlines and with hotels. These perks are really quite nice and they make travel a bit less stressful as you stand in shorter lines, board planes first, get the best seats, and preferred rooms. But none of these really matter much when you have trouble walking. No matter how short the line standing on one foot is a challenge. Today is going to be interesting. While I am a very good planner, this trip is going to challenge those skills. While I am admittedly anxious, a part of me welcomes the challenge.

When you are dependent on crutches you cannot walk through the screening device at the airport. The TSA personnel require that you put your crutches through the scanner which in my case will render me helpless. The result is that I am going to get my first ride in a wheel chair today. This also means holding a conversation with a complete stranger to whom I will probably have to explain my situation. You likely know just how much I am looking forward to that. I do think that there is a short line for wheel chair bound travelers so I guess that for me that part will be familiar. However, that is the least of my concerns. I typically travel with carryon luggage. It is rare for me to check a bag as the risks of losing your luggage are great and I have calculated that checked luggage adds at least an hour each way. This accounts for the time it takes to check the bag and to get it back from baggage claim. Last year I flew over 150 segments. If I had to check a bag each time I would be giving up nearly a week of my life to baggage. Additionally, checking luggage significantly shortens the life expectancy of your suitcase. I anticipate that when my foot heals I will also require a new bag. This whole broken foot thing is getting expensive.

The boot I am wearing is likely to qualify me for my first pat down by the TSA. This thought reminds me of a Friends episode where Chandler talks about the Tailor that “Makes an adjustment for you as he measures your trouser inseam.” You would have to have seen that one to get my point here. Let’s just say that I am not looking forward to “getting the adjustment” from some guy at the airport.

The cool news is that I have arranged for a car service to pick me up in Atlanta. Mostafa will meet me at baggage claim and that means that someone will actually get my bag for me. I can’t imagine how else I could move my bag. Even catching a cab requires that you get your bag out to the curb and I can’t manage that with the crutches. I spent some time thinking about this expense and it seems like it is not significantly greater than renting a car. I am going to have to start collecting information about this for all my trips.

I am flying to Atlanta through Charlotte. Both airports are huge. There are multiple escalators, moving walkways and great distances to travel. I am hoping to catch a ride on one of those annoying carts where the driver is doing their best to run over people as they attempt to navigate a strange place while pulling or carrying too much luggage and their frappuccino. I think I am going to get a different view of airports today.

I am asked constantly how I broke my foot. The story is boring. I was just running on a treadmill one morning. I have now concocted a new story. When asked how I broke my foot my new answer is as follows: “I think that discretion is quite important so let me just say that at a certain hotel recently I managed one morning to do something amazing that I had never done before. The experience left me soaking wet and with a broken foot. It will be six weeks before the doctors will permit me to try it again but I can’t wait.” I do hope you like the new version. But let me know if it needs improvement.

This is Day 5 of 42. There is so much more to come.

It Only Hurts When I Walk

At 5:30 in the morning in many hotel gyms the silence is wonderful. Occasionally, there might be one other ambitious traveler getting their morning workout in at this time of day but more often than not it is just me. Like most mornings I put on my earphones, started my playlist and began what I thought was going to be a 4 mile run. Despite my schedule of late I wanted to keep pace with my plan to run about 25 miles this week and I was already behind. The impact of snow and flight cancellations was also setting my running behind. I have a meeting beginning at 8:00 and I will need to arrive by 7:45 to get ready so I don’t have much time. I think I will kick up the pace a notch as this is a short run.

About 2.5 miles in to the run I hear an audible pop or snap sound. I can hear it through my earphones but it sounds like it was far away. That is until the pain arrives. Suddenly I can’t run. I get off the treadmill and try to walk but I can’t do that either. The pain is getting worse. I immediately think I have broken my foot and all I can think about is that I may not be able to run for a while. Seems strange that this is my first thought. There are many other things that should occur to me at this moment. First of all I am in Rochester, NY and this is not home. I am alone and may need help to get to my hotel room. I need to drive the car home and this will take at least 5 hours, and finally, I have a meeting with a client that we have been working for months to arrange. Yet, despite this, at the moment I am thinking of running. I realize in this instant just how important running has become in my life and I am experiencing fear of not being able to do it soon or perhaps ever again.

In life things change very quickly. The first change begins as I hobble back to my room. My foot hurts, I am sweating more than usual and it is too early to call anyone. Besides, what do I say? I am in Rochester and there isn’t anyone that is going to be able to come and help. I also need to get to my meeting. I shower and shave and conclude that the best thing I can do is to get my shoes on, tie them tightly, and get going so that is what I do. My foot feels pretty good once I actually get my shoe on so I drive to the client and I am only a few minutes later than I had planned. I encounter my first obstacle when I enter the building. The meeting is on the second floor of an older building and I am not aware of an elevator to get there. I am carrying my briefcase which weighs a ton and I am now learning that limping while carrying heavy objects is really hard to do. I make it to the board room where we will meet and I see the pleasant face of my colleague Tom. After I say hello I tell him that I think my foot is broken.

Our meeting requires a bit of facilitation, and presentation. I am wondering how much time I can stand on my feet. My colleague recognizes this without a word exchanged and he fills in as much as possible. I gamely limp to stand when necessary to make a point, or write a note on the flip chart. All in all the day goes very well but my brain is gradually giving in to pain and I am distracted. I will learn later that night that my foot is broken but for now the unknown and level of pain as I move about is making me just pray for the day to end. It does at around 3:00. Now I need to get down that flight of stairs to get to my car. Seven hours ago getting up the stairs was challenging. Now, getting down is excruciating and a difficult combination of balance and strength while reassuring my host that all is well. All is not well. I limp to the car, get inside and feel a rush of emotion. Not tears but a sense of fear. I need to get home and I need to do this without delay.

It is amazing how focused you can become when you are in pain. I make the drive home only stopping once for gas, protein bars and getting food from a drive through. I over buy but I don’t plan to stop again. Tonyia has made an appointment for me to have my foot looked at but I need to get there before 8:00 to be seen tonight. I need to get there because I need to know what I might be facing. I make it to the Doctor's by 7:40.

It does not take long at the Doctor’s to confirm with an x-ray that I have a stress fracture of the second metatarsal (my vocabulary is growing as I learn about my foot). The prognosis which is confirmed by the Orthopedic Doctor the next morning is 6 weeks no weight on the foot and an air cast. I can’t drive, I need crutches and I am now totally dependent on others for things I took for granted. I need doors opened for me, I can’t carry food and I take my messenger bag with me everywhere as my third pair of hands to hold things. I even need trousers that fit my current waist size with pant legs wide enough to go over the boot. I really am not in to the whole Pirate look of tucking my pants in to the boot and besides I think that would be uncomfortable. A shopping trip to the mall is required on the way home.

Yesterday I considered myself fit. At least with both my feet working well moving around the mall was never given a second thought. Now, I have to navigate the mall with crutches and I realize just how far it is to Banana Republic where I want to go to buy Khaki pants. I pass J. Crew and consider going in there but I just can’t imagine paying their prices for trousers. I forge ahead stopping to rest a couple of times and feeling awkward as people are staring at the guy with the crutches who is actually in the way. Yesterday I was just like them so I don’t get angry but I make a mental note to be more patient with people in the future. You just don’t know what they might be experiencing. I buy two pairs of trousers and begin planning my work wardrobe around my new casual look. You can’t really be fashionable when wearing a huge gray boot on your right foot. People tend to notice. I also decide that I need to wear a running shoe on my good foot after slipping a couple of times in my shoes. There goes a Harvey Young maxim. I used to say I only wear sneakers when I exercise. A lot of what I used to do is going to have to change.

Today is only day two of my 42 day journey. I have to fly to Atlanta on Monday and I expect that many lessons will be learned as I depend on porters and bellmen to move my luggage, face my first TSA pat down at the airport, and travel through the airport in a wheelchair since I can’t imagine making it through that distance on the crutches. Alex said that at least now you get on the plane first. I was actually grateful for that since I do not move quickly. I wonder can you get down the airplane isle with crutches.

I will blog about my experiences over these next 42 days. By the way, I am not writing to garner any sympathy, but I just think it will be helpful to share my experiences. I close today with a few notes to those of you in good health. If you are not exercising, despite my injury please begin immediately. I don’t think I could manage all of this if my balance was off, if I did not have good upper body strength, and if I were not aerobically fit. Despite all of that this is still very hard. For my friends my own age I also recommend you take your vitamins especially vitamin D and Calcium.

My final thought is a line I heard from Wille Jolley years ago “A setback is just a setup for a comeback.”