[pct-l] Ok, i give...this is my take on speedhiking

[mark v]

Perhaps my point was lost in all those words.  I mean,
if you still think people will respond:


> why should you
> care whether they 
> get a lot of satisfaction out of their achievements?

The answer to that in short is in my last 3 sentences:


> > Each side
> > can feel that their achievement is lessened when
> > somebody else makes the achievement about some
> other
> > set of parameters. It's like comparing apples and
> > oranges, but of all sudden being the most citrus
> is a
> > great achievement. The apple doesn't stack up
> anymore.

The reverse metaphor would be if i were to start
trumpeting about how i did the JMT carrying the
heaviest pack in history, or how i took the most
pictures ever...a new record!  Most speed-hikers
wouldn't care or feel threatened.  But if over time
carrying the most or taking the most pictures was the
subject of adoring articles in magazines and posts in
forums, the speed-hiker might feel remotely resentful
because hiking is being viewed as about achieving
something that is OPPOSITE what the speed-hiker cares
about.  By definition, their achievement is lessened
because in order to go the fastest, they can't carry a
lot or take a zillion pictures.  

The problem is in any set of parameters that bases
achievement on something empirical that is in direct
conflict with an existing set of parameters.  

That probably isn't any clearer, and i'll stop
now...but i just don't think it's fair to dismiss
resentful non-speed hikers as people who should mind
their own business.  HMHFMWISULDI!  (hike my hike for
me while i stay up late drinking instead)


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