(disclaimer: this post might only be exciting to me, but that’s okay. here is my place to spray instead of facebook.)

i have been waiting all year to write this post. i had the title picked out sometime in january.

13.1 miles. in january, i decided to train for a half marathon.  i trained to finish it without dying, no real time goal in mind. and on saturday, march 28, 2010, i ran (mostly) and finished 13.1 miles in 2:34. not a great time, but i did not die! goal accomplished.

5.13a. after climbing for 3 years, i was able to finally break into the 5.12 grade. but by the time i had sebastien, 7  years later, i still had not been able to climb 5.13a. i had given up hope and any expectation to. not a big deal, it had never truly been a goal of mine. but this year, after another 7 years have past, i sent my first 5.13a. saturday, october 9, 2010. a route called apollo reed at the colluseum, summersville lake, wv. woo! if you had asked me when i was 27 years old if i thought i would be stronger in 10 years at 37, i would have said, “no way, i’m in my prime! i’ll be almost dead when i’m 37 (or something similarly obnoxious)!” i’m kind of glad i would have been wrong.

i don’t know how to compare these accomplishments for people who do not run or climb. certainly, running 13.1 miles is nothing to scoff at–had i actually been racing, and not hobbling. but lots of people can finish 13.1 miles. in fact, i’m surprised at who can run 13.1 miles faster than me. not that i’m a great runner. i’ll be the first to admit that i am terrible at running. i’m slow, and when it hurts i want to quit. but i’m fit. i’m in pretty good shape for a gal my age, and people older and less fit than me make running look like a breeze. so there is really no way to compare running 13.1 miles with climbing a 5.13a. i have needed all 16+ years of climbing experience to get to this level. granted, i’m probably as slow in gaining strength in climbing as i am in running, i just happen to have more stick-to-it-iveness when it comes to climbing. out of the percentage of people who climb, many have climbed 5.13 with less experience than me. much less. but your average joe or jane shmo cannot hop off the couch and decide to train for a 5.13 and do it in a year or so. so is climbing 5.13 harder than running 13.1 miles? i would have to say, yup, yeah. hello, oh yes. but i could be wrong.

and was this my point to start out with? no. i don’t know. i don’t think i had much of a point except to brag a little bit. and i swear, this is the last time i’ll do it. maybe.

but this post can’t end here. i have one more thing to add to my short list of 13s.

13 years of marriage. august 9, 2010. harder but much much more fulfilling and rewarding than either climbing or running. and this one is not all about me. it takes team work.

Posted on November 19th, 2010