Just what type of fun are we talking about here??

24 January 2020 10:52 pm 

As mentioned, one of my goals for Atacama 2020 is to have fun. Which begs the question: How fun is running across a desert all day, every day, for a week? And just exactly how crazy are you? But I suppose it all has to do with what type of fun you are talking about.

I first heard about the different types of fun in February of 2014 while I was working medical team on a 4 deserts race. It was pouring rain in the Wadi Rum in Jordan and the racers were straggling into camp like so many waterlogged creatures. Eric Ladd, one of the docs, said, “looks like there’s a lot of type 2 fun going on today.”

It turns out there are 3 types of fun (news to me at the time).

Per the urban dictionary:

Type 1 fun is just plain fun. Simple, uncomplicated fun. It differs from 'fun' because it implies that there was a possibility for type 2 fun or even type 3 fun to have occurred instead.

a: "So, how was your boss's BBQ?" 
b: "Oh, everyone got plastered and played twister. Proper type 1 fun." 
a: "See, told you it would be fine."

type 2 fun

1. An activity that is fun only after you have stopped doing it.

ouch i hurt everywhere that was some type 2 fun

#fun#running#cycling#biking#hard#boring#lazy

type 3 fun

not fun at all, not even in retrospect. As in, “What the hell was I thinking? If I ever even consider doing that again, somebody slap some sense into me.”

That was type 3 fun!

#type 1 fun#type 2 fun#type 4 fun#sufferfest#pain cave

I think for many of my fellow humans, pretty much any form of exercise will come under the heading of type 2 (or even 3 ) fun, but for those of us who exercise a lot, maybe even live to exercise, I think we can definitely put some forms of exercise into the type 1 category: say, a perfect bluebird powder day on the ski hill, or a run in the woods with your buddy when your legs feel great and the air is crisp and you just feel like you could run forever, or the perfect trail for your mountain bike, with just enough terrain to make it fun, but not enough to make you gasp for air.

But I think we can all agree, there will be a lot of type 2 fun going on at Atacama 2020. Chances are pretty good that my legs are not going to feel great every day and the feeling that I could run forever will be quickly replaced by the feeling (or maybe the reality) that I am. Running forever. And in order to get through the day, I will have to look forward to the day, maybe in the distant future, that I can sit down with a pint and some coconspirators and say, yeah, that was fun.

(some type 2 fun at the 2019 Zofingen Powerman)

Whenever I read about type 3 fun, I see references to polar expeditions and pictures of Shackleton’s guys pulling a boat across the ice. While I do believe there is something epic about a multi-day ultramarathon in the desert. I am hoping to stop a little short of Shackleton epic.

I’ve also heard of type 1.5 fun, but that hasn’t made the urban dictionary yet. Type 1.5 has been used to describe activities which are basically fun, but have some unpleasant components: say, skinning up the mountain so that you can put first ski tracks down a bowl full of untouched powder, or getting your feet soaked crossing the river to get over to the best running trail in the park.

And maybe there is type 1.25 fun. A totally fun activity with not so fun consequences?   Blisters, a hangover, your credit card bill.

In any case, I have always enjoyed testing the limits of my body (and mind) and I am looking forward to experiencing a spectrum of fun in the Atacama.

(ok. Let’s try to avoid the type 3 fun)

And speaking of fun, have I mentioned I live in Central Oregon? And it's snowing?  And it is ski season?!  The training may need to wait...