… try something a little more off the wall. Actually, I decided to get ONto the wall in this case. With the cold weather and less than flat route to work (among other lame excuses) keeping me from biking to work (despite the fact that the second excuse will disappear in just a few short weeks when work moves into new offices about the same distance from my house, but with fewer/less dramatic slopes for me to contend with) it was time for me to find some other way to be active. So, as anyone would, I decided to try climbing walls (as I explained to my boss, this way I could replace any figurative wall climbing I might do at work).
My excitement at the idea increased as plans concretized, and became nearly unbearable when day 1 was postponed by nearly a week. I finally bought the footwear (ouch!) at lunch on Monday, and was climbing walls Monday night. It was great! I have always had trouble motivating myself for sports, for a number of reasons, but I really really like this one. I’m competing with nobody but myself, but there is a clear start and finish to as many small wins (and bigger wins) that I can handle. Plus, repelling back down is fuuuuuuun. Less fun for my coach/spotter Pierre, who had to trust me to get him down safely and avoid broken bones with, well, no experience! I got more comfortable with spotting throughout the evening, but on a particularly difficult wall, I found myself pulled off the ground several times (but I managed to make sure he didn’t fall!).
I am proud to say that I managed to get up to the fourth easiest level within just a couple of hours, although that depends on the angle of the wall: I can handle straight (or bumpy!) 5a level wells (the levels start at 4a – 4b – 4c – 5a…), but walls angled inwards will take some time. By the end of the evening, I wasn’t too sore, but I was quite tired. I figured that the “sore” would come the next day, and worse the day after (as everyone kept telling me).
To my surprise, the muscle pain has been minimal, and even though I was pretty sure the soreness wouldn’t dampen my excitement for attempt number 2, the lack of pain sure doesn’t hurt! (pardon the pun). Right now the hard part is the wait between sessions, which are only once a week for the moment.
This does come at a price, though; I can’t keep up with everything, and I decided to give up Spanish. I have been having trouble keeping up with my classmates, and am increasingly late or absent due to various things at work, and a class time that’s just a bit too early in the evening to be convenient. Japanese goes on, though, so I’m anything but bored!
Oh yeah, and my fear of heights hasn’t been a problem at all, but perhaps once I graduate to actual rock climbing it will kick back on…or if I were to try one of the crazy high walls which are, for the moment, a ways away for me!
