A compliment, a hill and a whole lot of brownie...

A lot of people out there in Running Blogland are hurting and a lot of people out there in the general world are depressed, I am a member of that intersecting group...

I know I'm not alone in there...but I didn't know who wanted to be named ;-)

Yesterday, however, my spirits were lifted for a bit, and it was really nice. I got to go to my climbing lesson...which was bound to be awesome in and of itself. It amazes me how challenging climbing is. I sweat and breathe hard, and my heart rate rises. My arms and legs shake. My hands and fingers stop working. It. Is. Awesome.

The plan yesterday was to work hard and challenge myself. I worked to failure. I am so glad that failure in the climbing gym ≠ bye, bye, XL like it might out on the face of Half Dome! The first route I worked on had an overhang. Overhangs are really hard if you have zero upper body strength, like me :) I decided that since I suck at overhangs so badly, I will attack them until I am proficient at and like them....thereby turning a weakness into a strength.

It was demanding work. I fell off the wall a few times. I learned that letting go and hanging out in your harness 20 feet up off the ground to shake out your arms is not only acceptable but is common practice and even encouraged. Resting while working out? You're kidding me?! Even with these condoned shake outs, by the end, I couldn't even hook my fingers over a handhold. On my last route up, with each move I was waiting for every millimeter of slack to be taken up before proceeding to the next hold....so essentially, my instructor was hauling my weakling butt up the wall! Nonetheless, I was working. Hard.

When I came down from the top and she was helping me untie because remember, my hands were useless, she said, "I usually really hate doing this..." Thinking she meant helping people untie,  I apologized. She said, "No, no! Private lessons...I usually really don't like giving them because they are usually kids whose parents sign them up and I'm pretty much just babysitting them. It is so much better and more fun to do it with someone like you who likes it and is into it and really works for it!" When I got into my car, my injured and depressed self cried because that's seriously one of the best compliments I've received in awhile. Thank you, Awesome Climbing Instructor Lady!

In line with trying to get some sweat going two days in a row but not really being able to run and knowing I need to get ready for a massively hilly race in 10 days, I decided to walk up a monster hill this morning...in the rain.

What it looked like as I was getting off the freeway...

I drive around with a helmet-cam on so no need to worry about the safety of my photography ;-)

I tried to channel the honey badger...

Scary, right? 

Be glad you aren't a cobra...or a big-ass hill 'cuz I'll take you down!

It was not as much fun as I had envisioned. In fact, it was kind of boring. Hard and boring. To amuse myself (and probably not you, too) I made some little videos...going for a nasal and annoying voice à la Randall in an exceptionally lame attempt to simulate the honey badger video...

halfway up

three-quarters of the way up

So...ummmm... yeah...way lamer than you thought, right? it happens...

Going up wasn't painful. My hip felt completely fine. But the way down started getting uncomfortable pretty quickly. I tried changing things up and did the ol' balance-beam-on-the-curb routine, which actually helped :)

I did this for over half of the way down.

And I used the walking backwards option, too (not while on the curb). This took a ton of strain off my piriformis while allowing me to catch this gem of a lawn ornament...

Seriously, who doesn't want a little boy fishing with barbed wire in his or her front yard?

Wondering where I might score one of these. I think my gnome is lonely...

All this depression exercise juiced my appetite. Go, brownies!!! Thanks to Bob's Red Mill and their gluten-free baking mixes, I foolishly made a large pan of brownies while home alone.

Much like that last sip of milk left in the carton or that last potato chip left in the bag, I left that last quarter of a brownie in the row...because finishing a whole row by myself in a 10-minute time span would be both lamentable and inconceivable.

Happy Weekend, Everyone :)

Ever run a race for which you were entirely UNprepared? How'd it go?