The Stupidest Thing I've Ever Done

I just got back from a quick trip out to Colorado with Kristi, Kayla, Josh, and Honey Rae.  We drove out there to climb Long's Peak.  We've tried it before.

My family vacationed out there years ago.  We decided to try our flat-lander feet on the 14,000 foot mountain.  They told us to start climbing at 4:00 a.m., so we started at 10:00.  They told us to turn around no later than noon, so we were still up there by 4:00 p.m.  Which is when the storm moved in.  From below us.  Do you know what lightning looks like from above the clouds?  I'd never literally run down a mountain before that day.

Mountain: 1
Me: 0

This weekend, I tried again.  I was older and wiser.  It couldn't be that hard, right?

Ha.

It started at 1:30 in the morning.  That's an hour and a half after midnight, in case you're wondering.  1:30 in the morning is not a good time to start something.  Especially when you were finishing a 5-mile hike at 8:00 the night before.

That was my first mistake.

We had to be starting on what I'll refer to as the "Death March" by 3:00 a.m. (They'd upped the time over the years.  Apparently, the degradation of American society includes more than just entertainment and politics.)  And, yes, I did say "we."  I wasn't climbing Long's Peak alone.  I was taking two marathon runners with me.

That was my second mistake.

I haven't run a marathon for 29 years. (For those of you who don't know, that's how old I am.) The Death March is 14 miles long - seven up, seven down.  I don't remember ever walking 14 miles in my life.  Kristi and Josh (my hiking buddies) are training for the Chicago marathon.  They ran 18 miles last week.  Let's just say the playing field wasn't very evenly matched.

Too bad I didn't think of that before the climb.

Three hours and 2,500 vertical feet later, I wasn't feeling so good.  Altitude sickness, I think it's called.  I wanted to live.  I headed back down.  It took me the same amount of time to get down as it had to get up, but the good news is, I was feeling much better.  Well, except for my knee which had started on fire about a mile and a half back, my shoulders which were not used to lugging 15 pounds, and my feet which were quite piqued that I'd stuffed them into boots after an entire summer in Chacos.  I was in marvelous shape, let me tell you.

Mountain: 2
Me: 0

My marathon buddies finished the Death March without dying - and it only took them 14 hours to do it!  I'd come up with an equation to figure out how long that means it would take me, but I'd rather not know the answer.  I think I'll bring my horse next time.