There are times when you want to challenge yourself, just to prove that , hey--you still got it, or just to show somebody else that you can do something outside your comfort zone. Well, don't ask me why...but I decided, this past summer, that I needed to prove to myself and to a friend of mine who's an outdoors fanatic, that I could hike up a medium height mountain.
He set up the challenge, saying that this was an "easy" hike, that he had done many times, and it would be a "piece of cake", why---even a child could do it! This was too much for me, and I (like an idiot with an easily tricked ego) fell for the trap.
So here we were on a super early, sunny morning, with hiking boots, a small knapsack filled with snacks and water, setting out to hike to the top of this medium-sized mountain. It looked easy enough to me-- and then we began the hike.
We had barely been out going up for an hour, when I began to feel that perhaps I had made a mistake, maybe this was a bit too much for me. But my friend said: nonsense! you just have to warm up, you'll be fine! Well, by the third hour, my legs were getting shaky, so we had to stop and rest. My maniac friend wanted to hike for one more hour, before stopping to rest.
Keep in mind that we were hiking up the side of the mountain, and the ascent sometimes got a bit steep, so it wasn't easy. Many times I had to take brief stops, just to catch my breath. My friend on the other hand, was as fresh as if we had been walking on a level, flat ground, and kept urging me to not give up, it was just a few more steps--and we would be at the top.
Sure we were.....about three hours later we finally made it to the top. By this time my tongue was hanging down to the ground from all the panting I was doing, just to be able to breathe! But my friend, annoyingly cheerful, was was commenting on the wonderful view, the great exercise, and how good this was for our health. Needless to say, it took me a bit longer to join in his celebration of the great views and so on.
But at the end, it did pay off--at the top of the mountain was a small restaurant, offering good food, sitting on an outdoors terrace, to fully appreciate the wonderful views of the countryside. And once we ate delicious and farm-fresh food, I was able to ignore the pains and aches that were beginning to descend on my body. I guess, it was a good hike, in spite of how miserable I felt (aching body) afterwards.
