Vendetta Walls

I finally got back to the rock gym after about a week and a half. About time too! Anyway, I got there earlier than Mark (my climbing buddy) so I decided to do some bouldering (climbing on shorter walls without a rope) since you don’t need a partner in crime for that. There is this one bouldering wall structure that you can actually top out on, which is fun because then you get the accomplishment and you don’t have to climb back down. Well I finally made it to the top… well I touched one of the top rocks and just as I was about to pull myself up I lost one of my footings and everything went… including me 10’ towards the ground. Fun times I will report. I hit my ankle pretty hard, but not hard enough to stop me from continuing my climbing for the day, however it did knock my pride down a few notches. I suppose it is healthy… the wall was teaching me a lesson. Mark and I have decided to dub the walls that beat us on particular days “vendetta walls”. These are the walls we hold grudges against until we are able to climb them. Some walls you know you can beat them if you can just get past a certain point… I suppose this is every wall, but, these walls in particular we have sworn that we will eventually climb, finish, and conquer. These walls will have no other choice but to claim defeat (until the gym decides to change the rock placements… but that is another thing all together). I leave you on this note, and I wish you all a Merry Christmas. – Mel

P.S. Taylor really really needs to start writing on here….

Lazy Sunday

Today is a very lazy Sunday, haven't done too much today. Yesterday I went to the rock gym for about two and a half hours. Tried some more difficult walls this time. I seem to have discovered that when I fall I should really pay attention to what angle I am climbing at in relation to where my rope is anchored because becoming a human pendulum is not always as fun as it sounds. Not as sore as last week, but not entirely painless yet... - Mel

In the Beginning...

So Taylor and I (Melanie) have decided to start the whole gym/workout deal seperatly, as we live about a 6 hour drive from each other. Thought it was a fun idea to share our progress together here...

My current motivation is to be more fit as well as fit into a bridesmaid dress by the summer. It is slow going, but a recent development is that in the past 6-8 months I have lost about 20Ibs. I am pretty happy with that so far. I have a gym buddy, we go 3-4 times a week before work. Depending on what machines are available at the time we usually do the treadmill or the stationary bikes. I stay away from the eliptical as it doesn't like accident prone people too much. I will leave it at that. I also swim a couple nights a week at my building pool.

I have also taken up indoor rock climbing at a local rock gym. It is pretty fantastic because I feel like it is a challege, but I also get the sense of accomplishment after I have reached the top of a particularily challenging wall. My next goal is to learn how to jump to the next unreachable rock (I am short... but determined!) AND being able to grab it and keep going up the wall. This is where I am at, I will leave it to Taylor to relay her story...