Adventure calls, and I must answer...

If you had asked me, years ago, if I considered myself a risk taker, adventuresome person, or someone who does extreme things, I would have emphatically said, no. I never think of myself in that way, or I never did, until now. I am starting to think that there is something inside me that is wanting to push the envelope, harder than I ever have before. That urge started with my first 3 Day, in 2004. I had, up until that time, never considered taking on a physical challenge like that. It never entered my mind.  But I did it. I made up my mind that I could do it, and I did. And then I did it again the next year, and the next, and the next…for 11 years. Then came the 2 day/100 mile Breast Cancer Ride, another out-of-the-box event for me.

Not to be swayed from the apparent course I had set for myself, I let a friend's great idea of doing a modified triathlon for the Longest Day event for Alzheimers become my next “thing". Again, out of the box, and kind of crazy. Not like anything I had ever done before, and it was definitely a challenge.

So that was last year. In June. And by the time the end of July rolled around, I was restless again. My life was not following a path that I had intended or even really wanted. I needed something to shake my world a bit and get me moving again. Once again, my friend stepped in and offered a suggestion. She practically dared me to contact Jenne and ask her about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with her. PREPOSTEROUS! I mean, come on! That is more extreme than even I would consider! But when she mentioned it, something inside me woke up. It was like a little pilot light was kindled, and I decided to send an email, if only to be able to tell her that I did it. So I did, and the rest, as they say, is history.

August 12, 2017, these will be with me as I start my climb up Kilimanjaro

I am in training for the biggest and most extreme adventure of my life. Never, in a million years, would I have thought that I would be doing something like this…never. But here I am. I am training to climb the tallest, free-standing mountain in the world. I am climbing up to 19,341 feet…INSANE! What am I thinking? Honestly, I am not. I am going with my gut on this one. It feels right. As crazy as it seems, it also feels that right. There is a part of me that is terrified. I mean, seriously. I am not a mountain climber. I am not an extreme sports person. I am not even much of an athlete. But I am doing it. I am taking on this challenge, and I am doing it for me. I am doing it to expand that box so far that it doesn’t even seem like a box anymore. I am pushing through the fears and the trepidation and all of the other obstacles that pop up along the training journey. I am so grateful to have Jenne as a guide for this. Her prompts for the journaling and the training are truly inspirational. And they are helping me get to a point that I never thought possible. I have already learned so much about myself, and we are only half way through the training. Incredible.

So, why? Did my decision to walk the 3 Day in 2004 lead me to this? Did it open a door that I can’t shut now? Did I set myself up for this adventure 13 years ago? Possibly.

The changes, right now, are subtle, but I feel them intensely sometimes. I think that the enormity of this challenge is forcing me to pay closer attention, and to appreciate all of the little things that are happening. And the fact that I am doing this for me, and not for a fundraiser or anything like that, makes it even more important to pay attention. This will, very possibly, be the biggest thing I will ever do in my life, at least as a physical challenge. I am not going to take it lightly.  I am going to glean all that I possibly can from this experience. It is my opportunity to get perspective on things that I haven’t had access to before, and I will not let that be taken for granted. I am an eager student, and I have already learned a lot. So I will continue that trajectory, and see where it takes me. It will be a trip like no other, and I am so excited.

I have no idea what it is going to look like, but then again, I didn’t have any idea what any of the other adventures would look like either, and look at all of the amazing things that came out of them. And this feels more right than all of them put together. So here I am, on this journey that I never expected to have, and I am taking each day as it comes. There are days that I am so excited I feel my head will burst. And there are days that I am sure that I will never make it all the way up the mountain and back down again. I have days when the strength in my body that has been developing over the past 10 weeks amazes me. And there are days when my body lets me down and flat out refuses to do what I am asking. It is definitely a roller coaster, to be sure. But, thankfully, the good/fun/exciting days far outnumber the challenging days. That is why I am moving forward. The promise of the things that I will learn about myself along the way, and the anticipation of the sights that I will see at the summit.