Redemption

Before I begin, let me recap.  Back in January, Brent, Brinkley, and I went for a hike on Greyrock trail.  We hiked with me trailing Brink and Brent with much huffing and puffing.  My legs burned and stung so badly that I hated almost every minute of the hike.  I failed miserably and we turned around at maybe the 1.5 mile mark.

I cursed myself on the way down that mountain and told myself never again.  Since then I’ve been eating better and have moved from walking a mile to running three miles!  We’ve hiked Horsetooth Rock and Horsetooth Falls.  And I managed to go from a white belt to a yellow belt in jujitsu.

Last week I told Brent I wanted to trying hiking Greyrock again.  I wanted to redeem myself and prove that while the scale hasn’t moved much lately, I have become fitter and healthier than I was on that cold and dreary winter day. 

So, with slightly smaller pants, new hiking boots, and a large dose of determination we hit the trail on Sunday morning.  I was surprised the amount of pep in my step.  We trudged up the trail and passed the point of where we turned around in January.  We were on a steady incline and my legs were not burning or fatigued at all.  It was freakishly awesome!!  I kept telling myself this was too good to be true.  

Brent was struggling more than I was, which has NEVER happened.  He’s usually like a mountain goat and just climbs and climbs.  On Sunday, I was the mountain goat.  It was a great feeling.  The only thing that slowed me down was the really rocky parts towards the top of the hike, which required more contemplation and higher stepping.

We reached the bottom of the summit trail and I was a little taken aback by the size of the mountain we had left to climb.  The actual Greyrock still awaited us.  This is where is got really rocky and we had to take our time getting up ourselves and helping Brinkley up over some of the rocks.  Brink worked his tail off!! He carried water in his pack and had to jump from rock to rock.

Near the top of the huge rock we reached a meadow.  And more rocks to scale.  And then we reached the water!  Yes, water!  At the very top there is a nice sized spring.  It makes the long, rocky hike worth it!  It was very pretty up at that top.  A nice breeze helped to cool us off.  We took off our boots and peeled off our socks to dip our feet in the water, which was pretty darn cold!!  

Brinkley enjoyed a nice plunge in the water to cool off and some gulps of water.  We ate some snacks and let the breeze dry our feet off.  

Once we got our boots back on we scaled up the rocks a little higher.  We went as high as we could go with Mr. Miles.  We did it!! I DID IT!  We made it to the top of the mountain which had haunted me since January.  My legs still felt fresh and I was only slightly tired.  It was a complete turn around from my previous experience and I’m very proud of myself!!  And Brent and Brink for sticking with me!

It took another two hours or so for us to get back down to the car.  We were getting low on water and had to use it sparingly.  I was motivated by the thought of an ice cold root beer as a reward for my work.  Every so often I would say “ice cold root beer, ice cold root beer.”  I was eventually told to stop saying it.  Every time I would say it, Brent would think of ice cold root beer and not the rocky trail in front of him and he would trip or stumble.

We did get some ice cold root beer once we reached civilization again!  And it was delicious!!!  We also indulged in some of our favorite pizza (Justine’s Pizza) for dinner.  It was one large greasy, cheesy, and meaty pizza.  Scrumptious ... and well deserved!

Now I just have to decide where I want to hike next!!