If you have not read blog entry #5 - Colorado, please read it first or none of the following will seem wondrous.
-- Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.
-- Arnold H Glasgow
We hiked to the Pool and back today! It was such a fun experience for me and a huge triumph. I could tell from the very beginning that I was setting a much faster pace than the last time. Pretty soon, my father pointed out that the place we were passing so quickly was the spot I asked him how much farther to the arches. The significance of this is that when I asked that question in the first trip, that was when I had accepted that I wasn't going to finish and was trying to determine whether to give up and turn around or to at least make it to the arches. This time, I wasn't even a little fatigued.
Soon we 'round the bend to the arches and I can't believe how easy it has been. We stop for a short reflection and water break. Then we head on up to the Pool. It feels fantastic to hit a goal like that. It took me back to my younger days when I would set new goals and accomplish them regularly on hikes like these. It made me realize how much progress I've made in a few short months.
The walk back was similarly easy. By the last quarter mile or so, I was feeling some pain in my feet and joints. Mostly due to some of the steep downhill portions and just my weight pounding my feet into some off the rocks. But it felt great over all.
Even given my last month of nearly no progress, it is wonderful to realize how much progress I've achieved in such a short amount of time. A hike, that I quit .7 miles early and still thought of as a death march, was now an easily obtainable success. Perhaps future years will see me climb mountains again. Rock climbing and rappelling. Backpacking and camping. Sky's the limit.
-- Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.
-- Napoleon Hill
Go get 'em, Kev!
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