Win the War

This is a blog post about a hill. This hill is steep. This hill attacks you right when you wish you were going down hill. This hill is mean, this hill is cruel and this hill is feisty. And we've gotten to know each other lately.

The first time I met this hill was one of the first days that I was here in Anchorage. "Would you like to go for a bike ride?" Aunt Lyn asked. "Why yes, indeed I would," I said. This was the bike ride that I wrote about in "And I Like That." But in that post, I failed to mention this hill.

When I am on a hike, or a walk, or a bike, etc. and I am on a trail in which the plan is to turn back and retrace our steps to the beginning point, I am constantly keeping track of how many times we go downhill. Maybe it's because I'm lazy. But maybe (and this is probably more likely...) I keep track because I just need to know how much energy to save for the trek back when those downhills become treacherous uphills. Yeah, that's probably it.

So, the first time I met this hill I was enjoying how it was swiftly propelling me into the wooded trail that would eventually lead us to our office in town. But when I got to the bottom of that helpful hill the gravity of what had just taken place hit: I would have to climb that steep, stubby monster on the way back.

When we finally turned back around, and made our way past the now familiar playground, metal gorillas and meandering stream, I knew that the battle was about to begin. That first battle was hard. I put a lot of sweat and angst into that first bike up that hill. And it was hard. Afterwards my legs felt a bit numb and I had phrases such as "I can't go on!" and "I think I'll just lay down right here," floating around in my bike-helmeted head. But I knew that I would meet that hill again. This wasn't over.

In the past week, Mk and I have biked up that hill twice. I will admit that that hill won the very first battle, but after defeat I then knew what was in store. The second battle (this past Monday), I lost less feeling in my legs and I was more determined to push on and not let that hill slow me down. The most recent battle (today) I believe that I was inching towards a victory, but I'm not quite there yet.

But you know what they say, this hill may have won a couple battles, but I am determined to win the war.