Poles and 'Pole pole'

I put in a few miles on the C&O Canal towpath and Billy Goat A earlier today... 6.7, but who's counting? I packed all my photo gear (12lbs worth) and 3L of water to see how my daypack would manage, and it did pretty well.

I also wanted to try out my Komperdell trekking poles. You can use them to keep your balance, but they're really good for using your arms to help propel you up a hill. When the trail is not terribly uneven, they're great. It's not a huge power boost - I've seen estimates of around 10% - but it's making use of muscles that would otherwise be along for the ride and save a bit of strain on your legs.

I was pulling them out of my pack at the end of section A - they're more trouble than they're worth on really rocky paths like that - when a hiker points to em and says "Those things are pretty good, aren't they?"

I said they were, and I had them out to see if I could get used to them. During the smalltalk, I mentioned I was going up Kili soon. "Ooohhh!" he said in an Aussie/Kiwi-sounding accent. "You'll really appreciate them there! They're great on an incline, especially when you get a good tempo going."

Turns out he had climbed Kili some time ago. I quipped that I was at least in good enough shape to go slowly. "Well, that's the secret to getting up Kili. The ones who rush it get into trouble. Pole pole."

Swahili for "slowly slowly" though the poles in my hands would help too.

I forgot about "pole pole" on the last half of Section A, and I was sucking wind. And getting a bit of heat exhaustion. In 90-degree heat. A few minutes rest (and slowing down after that) gave my second wind time to catch up.