Day 26: It's the Climb

I think it's pretty safe to say that I have no upper body strength. While I'm at it, I'd go so far as to say I have no lower body strength, either. Mix that with some rock climbing, and it's a recipe for disaster, right? This is the stuff people pay to watch.

After going out to eat at least once every day this past week, I was in need of a pretty good workout. I could've gone on my elliptical, because I haven't been on it since I hit the 15-minute mark a few weeks ago. But, I decided against it. As I looked at my "idea bank" of things to do during my 60 days, some of the more "active" ideas jumped out at me: hiking, kayaking, zip lining. I made a few phone calls to places I considered going, and decided on rock climbing. I called my friend, Hannah, to join me, and she was up for the challenge.

So, we went to Stone Age Rock Gym in Manchester this afternoon. We decided to go bouldering (without ropes) and weren't quite sure how it would work for me. After signing the waiver, I was given shoes and a bag of chalk. Chalk? I thought that it might be for writing "Ellaine was here 2012" on the wall when I was finished. But, I was wrong. After that, I was convinced that I wasn't cut out for rock climbing, and that I would climb all of 3 feet before crashing into the bouldering mats. Surprisingly, I took to the walls like a little monkey and absolutely LOVED it. Before scaling the walls each time, Hannah and I set goals for ourselves: Let's touch the blue double circle. Let's get to the orange thing that looks like a nose. Let's go for the yellow banana. I hit every goal I made for myself and then some. It was so much fun... I even sweat a ton and didn't mind! Hannah was a great cheerleader, and I truly felt a sense of accomplishment with every climb. It was awesome.

Hannah, Me, and the Yellow Banana

final climb to the Elephant