Indoor Rock Climbing: All Work & All Play

Re-post with a few adjustments!

I love rock climbing but hate heights (I'm a contradiction). Though I haven't overcome my fear of heights, I have learned to mange my fear and turn it into a positive experience. I now work at a rock wall, and enjoy teaching others and strengthening their skills. I's probably the only job I've had where work and fun go hand-in-hand. Ah, the rock wall is my adult playground.

When working, it's sometimes difficult to get students to share my love of climbing. I feel like that annoying salesman, but usually 1 of 4 things happen when I ask students to climb:

Me: "Hey! Would you like to climb?"

Student will either: 

(a) Pretend they don't see the 30 foot rock wall and will avoid all eye-contact;

(b) "I'll climb after I work out" (no, you won't)

(c)  "I'll fall" (I hope not or I'd lose my job)

(d)  "Okay, sure!" (woohoo!)

I'm not knocking on anyone who gives the wall a try...I admire you, but there are climbers (big muscly guys, especially) who try to pull themselves up the wall, all arms. They soon find out that it's not all about upper body strength (GTL won't help you here), but using a combination your legs, arms and keeping your body close to the wall . It's a great workout--the first time I climbed, I couldn't open the peanut butter jar for 2 days (I was like David from the Dentist: Is this going to be forever?) because I wasn't use to using specific arm muscles  It works your arms, legs, abs, concentration and mind. I always look at it as a puzzle and how I can solve it.

Climbing is not for everyone, but I've had numerous students try it once and absolutely love it. I won't let you fall (promise) and it's actually fun (double promise)

 

.. And when I do get to the top, I feel like a contestant on GUTS (Nickelodeon throwback) who just climbed The Aggro Crag (minus the falling foam boulders and Moe).

Challenge yourself. Rock climbing might not be your thing, but you'll never know until you give it a try. Always make sure you're wearing a helmet; harnessed in; and your bilayer knows what he or she is doing, then rock out!

                  

My Adirondack Adventures: Red-Faced at Whiteface

I'm back from the wilderness! It was a whirlwind week, and it's still not over since I travel to the LiveStrong Challenge tomorrow morning. Thank you to everyone who donated and offered their support towards this amazing cause! Words can't express how appreciative I am. xoxo

My vacation was awesome! My family and I traveled to Lake Placid which was beyond gorgeous. We lucked out with weather and thoroughly enjoyed the sites (and food!). We crammed a whole weeks worth of activities into two days. 

Because my 45 mile bike race is on Sunday, I figured I should start building my endurance. My boyfriend and I decided to ride a 40-ish mile loop around Lake Saranac. No one told me the first 7 miles were uphill; and I don't mean happy, little, bunny slopes, no...I'm talking, big, scary, black diamond hills. At one point I thought we took a wrong turn and were climbing Whiteface Mountain. My aunt taught me a trick when peddling up monstrous hills: say Hail Marys until you reach the top. As cliche as it sounds, it worked and distracted me enough to power through each hill. I probably recited a whole rosary by the end of the ride and finished the ride a whole lot holier. For my LiveStrong race, I'm going to dedicate each hill to a different person. This will amp up my motivation and make each hill even more meaningful.

Before the ride, so chic

After the first 10ish miles, the road started flattening out and my tunnel vision finally broadened so I was able to finally take in the beautiful scenery. God bless my boyfriend who endured my colorful language as I trekked up each peak, but he was great and kept me sane (for the most part) through the whole ride.

20 miles in, half way there!

As tough as it was at the time, I finished and I'm happy I stuck through it; I didn't give up or get off my bike (though tempting at times). I'm proud of myself. It was a good experience and definitely prepared me for the LiveStrong Challenge on Sunday. Bring it on.

My bike ride wasn't my only hill-y experience. 30 minutes after we returned to the hotel (still stinky and sore), we left to see Whiteface Mountain (the 5th highest Adirondack peak). Talk about whirlwind! We drove 5 miles uphill to the parking lot where we had 2 options on how to reach the summit: stairs or elevator (!). We were feeling adventurous and climbed the stairs that resembled something more like the Great Wall of China. 

I almost climbed in flip flops before I made the quick decision to put on my hiking boots. Thank God I did because parts of the climb I was contemplating if I should break out my harness and climbing ropes; but I would have climbed that route numerous times to reach the view we were welcomed by. If I had to pair an image with what I thought Heaven looked like, it would be the view from Whiteface's peak. We had a beautiful, clear, 80 mile view from the summit.

The observatory tower which reminded me of something from Harry Potter

My beautiful family, I already nominated this as our Christmas card picture

My boyfriend and I scouring the land

The official peak marker

This just made me laugh

Breath-taking. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Whiteface, do it. I promise you, you won't be dissapointed. The experience is like no other. You feel on top of the world while at the same time feeling so small compared to the grandeur of nature. My boyfriend and I want to climb it sometime (about a 10 hour hike) along with the other 45 peaks. Add it to the bucket list!

It was such an eventful week but I'm happy to be home (at least for the night). Plus, I got a bountiful surprise when I returned:

Tomatoes, anyone?

Off to the race tomorrow! Wish me luck :)