Sore as Hell

So what did I think of climbing? I absolutely loved it. I caught the climbing bug. Don’t get me wrong, most of my body was sore the next day. I was hurting in places I didn’t think I could be.

I saw how bruised and scraped up my knees were from hitting the wall or boulder. I couldn’t tell you which bruise happened where. My knees haven’t been that black, blue, and/or red since I was a kid. For sure haven’t seen that many scrapes. My elbows weren’t as bad. I saw a lot of red on my hands and a little bit of skin ripped off from my palms.

Honestly, I am not athletic and not a huge fan of exercise. The most exercise I get is the occasional walk down the street and back. Besides that, I don’t much else unless you count the hours I’m on my feet at my job. Hence I’m not used to putting myself through this much of a workout. But I didn’t see climbing as exercise, I saw it as something fun to do.

It was just me and the wall or me and the boulder.

Wait, Did I Just Do That?

However, the funny thing was when I was climbing, I felt alive. It was like “holy crap, I can actually do this”. I really pushed myself to finish the routes on the walls. Or the problems on the boulder later on. It didn’t matter to me that my knees and hands were getting tore up. It’s amazing what the human body can do and handle.

I can be a little stubborn so when I fell off a route or problem, I was determined to get back on and finish it. Yet, I knew that some I couldn’t because I didn’t have the strength or skills to tackle them. That didn’t discourage me though; it made me want to climb more. I started making a mental list of routes and problems I couldn’t finish but wanted to try again at another time.

I knew after leaving Climb UP, I wanted to come back. Sure, my body wasn’t too happy about the beating it took. But I recovered and was ready for more. Climbing became something I didn’t want to stop doing and I’m grateful for it. I could officially say I was hooked.

What to Climb?

As a result, I’ve been climbing and bouldering ever since. I’ve never looked back. Next time, I’ll let you in on what I start climbing on once my feet touch the mats. Plus, which problems I like to solve or still trying to figure out.