Sore

This last weekend, I got the bright idea to ask my brother if he wanted to hike Mt. Si with me.

I've hiked little Si, which is about a 4 mile round trip and it has it's fair share of steepness and fatigue inducing trail but it has plenty of areas that are level so that you can catch your breath.

Mt. Si is 4 miles up and 4 miles back down. But the up part is literally like climbing 4 miles worth of stairs. I exaggerate not.

But I figured I could handle it. I knew it would be hard, but I've lost 30 pounds, I've been running and weight training some so I thought I was up for the challenge.

I didn't really factor in the fact that Keno climbed Mt. Rainier and is really more like a mountain goat when it comes to stamina and speed. And his two oldest boys who went with us are exactly like him.

So imagine me, huffing and puffy, legs burning, while they patiently wait up ahead and/or slow down for me.

There were several times that I gave serious thought to quitting and telling them I would wait for them in the truck. But I couldn't lose face with my brother or my nephews and everytime I would consider quitting, I'd see the mile markers that told me I was that much closer.

Eventually my breathing and my heart rate evened out, and just my legs felt like jello, but I pressed on.

And of course, my brother and his sons are super scouts so they used the, "It's just up ahead, I promise." line on me for about a mile. It worked though, and I made it.

And when I reached the top, this is what our view was.



It was pretty cloudy so it's not as breathtaking as I imagine it is on clear days. But to give you perspective, that town you see is 20 miles away.

Yeah, we were up pretty high.

It has an elevation climb of 3700 feet. And like I said, it's like being on a stair climber for 4 miles.

And for the next two days it hurt to walk down stairs or to sit or stand or pretty much exist.

But it was totally worth it. And now my goal is to increase my speed a little and not breathe so loudly on the way up.

We'll see. But for now I feel pretty good about my accomplishment. And when it did get really hard I just kept repeating over and over in my mind, "I can do hard things."

Yes I can.