Posts Tagged ‘Giant Steps’

There are three letters that work well here, better perhaps, than any other three letters.

O.M.G.

Okay maybe a WTF is in store too.

Yesterday was the first time in a long time that I can truly say that I am grateful for my body and what it is capable of.

I can tell you, with a great sense of pride and accomplishment, that I climbed the Manitou Incline.

This may mean very little to some of you, and nothing to most of you. It really does require a proper introduction:

Length: just under 1 mile

Elevation Gain: roughly 2000 ft.

Incline: 50 degrees (at the steepest point)

Degree of Difficulty: Strenuous

Yeah, you read that right. 2000 feet of elevation gain in under a mile. Basically, it’s a mile of “stairs.” Let’s use the word “stairs” loosely here because it’s actually stairs for probably 30% of trip and then GIANT FREAKING STEPS as tall as my knee for the rest of it.

Now I can’t even say that I was blindsided by any of this. I’d gotten a small synopsis of what it was all about from Jacques’ mom and my coworkers. I had fair warning. It didn’t actually HIT me until I was standing at the base of it and went “Oh shit.”

It was 85 degrees out when we started hiking and probably well into the 90s by the time we were half way up. It took us a little over an hour to complete it (including stoppage time which we estimate was about 15-20 minutes). We ran out of water once we got to the top (oops!) and we were both super cute sweaty by the end of it. Of course, Jacques made it look easy but that’s what he does. He’s a machine. I’m just proud that I finished.

Here are the rest of the pictures from the trek up the BEAST:

Definitely not even half-way…

Getting steeper…

You turn around to see how far you’ve come, and this is what you get…

…and then it gets tricky…

This is at the top of what they call “The False Summit.” Just below this, it was so steep that you couldn’t see the “rest” so you thought you were done. Please notice that you can’t see the trail behind us because well, it was THAT STEEP. Then you turn around and see this:

Oh my god. That’s more stairs! It never ends. Ever.

Us at the summit. Yes, I know I’m a hot mess. Let’s be real. That’s a fake smile too.

View from the very top, with a look back at the whole thing.

Yes, I know that was a lot of pictures of the same thing: stairs. Now you know how I felt. Then we had to turn around and hike right back down – FOUR MILES! Yeah, I didn’t know it was that long, either. Four miles. Just to go home. So 5 miles and 3.5 hours later…

I really am very proud of my body. A year ago, I wouldn’t have made it. Probably not even close. I would have been dying AND in tears before we got to the halfway point. That was also about 50 pounds ago. It’s amazing the limits we’re capable of pushing ourselves to. It reminds me why I wanted to get back in shape in the first place. It also reminds me that I still have 35 pounds to go. However, Jacques and I figured that we burned probably somewhere around 1300 calories between both hiking up and back down again.

My favorite boy did treat me to some ice cream in Old Colorado City when we were finished. I guess that *almost* made it worth it. The thing about this is, now I just have the stupidity drive to do it again – and shoot for a better time. Less than an hour sound good? I’ll regret that later…

Much (sore) love, Pro