The Hike

Wednesday, I went on a hike with some of the challengers at work. It was a beautiful place to hike. Here I am thinking a nice leasurly hike through a park would be fun. Boy, was I ever wrong there. It was not a leasurly hike, it was a grueling uphill climb for a good 45 minutes. 5 minutes in I was already feeling tired, halfway through the climb my legs burned so bad. I was miliseconds from quitting, turning around and headed right back down. But our fearless team leader, Zen, was there with me. Staying behind the pack to make sure I made it, giving me the gentle encouragements I needed to push through. She had no doubt that I would make it, that she gave me the strength that I needed to do it. As we got to a split in the path, Zen told me that one direction would be a gentle downhill path back to the cars, and the other would be a gentler uphill climb to a curve in the path. She asked me if I wanted to try going further, and there was suddenly a battle in my head. The competitive-never-give-up side screamed "YES! We can make it to the top of that! Lets Go!" while the side of me that felt the pain in my legs, and the shortness in my breath whimpered "Please no, we can't take anymore." As I waged my internal battle, Zen was once again my voice of strength, she said it wasn't that far, just around the bend and she knew I could make it. So we did. I made it. We turned around, and I looked out at the wonderful view of the hilltops, the trees, the greenness of it all. It was breathtaking (not that I had much breath anyway). And in that moment, I realized it didn't matter how much pain I had been in, it was totally worth it. I didn't even feel the pain anymore. As we headed back down to the cars, I felt a sense of acomplishment that made me feel like I could do anything. Surprisingly enough, I'm actually looking forward to the next hike.

So, ever thought to yourself "I can't do that, I'm not in good enough shape." Yeah, so have I. But instead of listening to that voice, I listened to all the other voices saying I could. We can do anything we set our minds to!

My biggest lesson through this adventure, was that it is VERY important to drink plenty of water before strenous physical exercise. Zen made sure to drill that into my head (because I didn't). So to all you out there in cyberland, if you are going to exercise, be sure you are drinking your water throughout the day beforehand, don't try drinking a gallon of water 30 minutes before hand, spread it out. Trust me, it makes a difference.