#3 Try Rock Climbing

So last night after work, despite being tremendously tired, I drove to Rock Spot Climbing in Hyde Park to meet Will and try some indoor bouldering for the first time.

I was really nervous when I walked in (I hate doing new things, it's like WHERE DO I PUT MY STUFF, WHERE ARE THE BATHROOMS, WILL I BE ABLE TO FIND WILL, etc. etc.), but quickly signed my life away in a waiver, rented some shoes, put my things away and dove in. Will explained the rating system at this gym to me - there are paths on the wall, marked with colored tape, rated from R, which is the easiest, to O or "Off the Wall Hard" (actually I made that up). So we picked out an easier R path, I watched Will climb it first, and then I tried it.

I did a lot better than I thought I would. I was outrageously scared (it's crazy how 5 feet off the ground feels like 50 when you look down and aren't accustomed to judging heights from that direction yet), and didn't make it over the wall or anything, but I climbed a few of the easy paths enough times that I could set a goal that was just a teensy bit higher and scarier than I got the last time I went up and do it.

At some points I did feel a little discouraged - Will is like a monkey with gorilla arms, and also primate strength, so watching him scurry up stuff I couldn't was rough, and I kept thinking to myself "my little arms just can't DO THAT". Also, because I was so nervous about falling (despite the fact that the gym floor is made out of padding), my palms were sweating and Will was almost out of chalk. And climbing really hurts your hands. It hurt to grip the steering will in my car on the way home. And then at one point in the night an 11 year old boy showed up with his dad and he was like racing up things I had been crawling up just moments before. But you know what, whatever, 11 year old boys are supposed to be great at climbing things. I am a 23 year old lady who only very recently started to care about arm strength and had no idea FINGER strength could be useful for anything. And for me, I felt like I did a great job.

Mission accomplished. Adding to the list: Take a belaying class so that I can climb the rope walls next time I go!