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Jun 19, 2012

The Incline

This morning I crossed something off my Colorado bucket list: hiking The Incline.  This hike is just what it sounds like: walking up the side of a mountain.  According to this website, The Incline is one mile long, with a 2000-feet elevation gain, with the steepest grade being 68%.  For some reason I have wanted to do this for four years, and today it finally happened.  I met some friends at 5:30 a.m. and we drove to Manitou for a slowpoke attempt at the hike.

Just getting started.  See the top up there?  Yeah, that's not really the top.
It was harder than I thought it would be.  Granted, I'm not in great shape, but I thought that my regular hour-long runs and elliptical sessions would count for something!  And I suppose they did.  But I was still quite winded most of the time.  I appreciated the company of friends.  Starr and I hiked together for about the last half, and that was great.


The view down from about the half-way point.
When I finally made it to the top (in an hour and twenty minutes), I was very tired, but also kind of felt like celebrating.  I'm pleased that my worn-out body can do hard things again.

As I hiked I kept thinking about parallels between The Incline and this thing called Life. As long as I kept my eyes on the goal and put one foot in front of the other, I knew I'd make it to my destination.  Pleasant companions made the journey so much better.  And reaching the top after all that hard work felt fantastic.

Our group: Alicia, Ashley, Heidi, Starr, Lisa, and Jennifer
(plus Sandy, who hiked half-way)

I'm not sure when I'll hike The Incline again, but I hope for another time or two before the weather turns.  Zach and Tyler really want to try it.  We'll see!

4 comments:

Nate and Annah Butterfield said...

Good job! Was there a slide down? If not, there should be!

Diana said...

Your boys can totally do this...mine have and my oldest is about tyler's age. Way to go. Honestly, hiking the incline is my gauge for doing hard things and yes, it is nice for our bodies to remember what they were once capable of. By the way, I'm sorry for intruding on your blog but Ive heard your name and know some of the same people you do. I'm in the fairfax ward.

maynardmoments said...

Congrats! That is no easy hike.

Melanie said...

Who knew how precious these gorgeous mountain pictures would be! Proud of you for working so hard to reclaim your health. Well done!

pass it on!

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