Sunday, October 05, 2008

cut me some slack, jack!


So, the climb was cancelled due to bad weather. Wouldn't you know it? The only time in my life I've actually trained for an event, it gets rained out! I've been wandering around since yesterday in kind of a daze, not sure what to do with myself.
(I did repaint a wall in our living room yesterday, transforming the tangerine wall into a softer shade of pumpkin souffle. But that's another story . . .)

I actually enjoyed the training process thoroughly. I'd gotten really lazy on my walks, always taking the shortest, easiest route when I took Scout on her daily outing. But with Three-Fingered Jack looming in my near future, I hustled up hills, sprinted a gazillion flights of stairs and conquered two mountains (Hamilton and Dog Mountain) that I never thought I had the stamina (or knees) to climb.

I even made poor Stephen run steps with me this past week. I can't imagine what a sight we were: a tall, young Sudanese man, a short, middle-aged white woman, and a spazzy little dog charging up and down the 116 cement steps that connect the neighborhood to the grade school. We did this six times before I announced our training was done for the day and we forced our wobbly legs to stagger home.

I'm sure Stephen thought I was completely crazy after that little workout, but he never let on. He just politely avoided me for the rest of the day . . .

But seriously, I loved having a reason to push myself. Inertia is my normal state of being, but the challenge of Jack energized me and kept me moving. I set weekly goals and accomplished them and constantly surprised myself at what I could do. All of a sudden, 52 didn't feel quite so old and decrepit. I started wondering what other adventures awaited me on this "downhill" side of life!

So, I'm bummed that we didn't get to climb the mountain, but I'm kind of tickled at what I was able to accomplish along the way. And Jack's not going any where--guess I'll just have to keep training until next spring!

3 comments:

mexicandyce said...

poor poor steven...
mom you are wonderfully crazy

mexicandyce said...

poor poor steven...
mom you are wonderfully crazy

jenzai said...

Thanks for the privilege of joining you Thurs night -- when people ask what Steven is like I just say, "Jesus."

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