ENCHANTED ROCK

My friend Lisa came into town a little while ago, and on Valentines Day she wanted to go to Enchanted Rock with some friends. She asked me if I wanted to go, and at first I was pretty hesitant about accepting the invite. The last time I went to Enchanted Rock I was very young and I remember it being quite high. The old worries of not being able to do an outdoor activity came back, and the anxiety that I would slow the group down crept up. But Lisa sounded so excited about going that I wanted to join in on the fun. 

 

When we got there one fact just kept running through my mind…The top of Enchanted Rock was about 1800 feet high. I thought back to a couple of weeks ago when I was with David and we were doing the nature walks that were about 500 feet high. Those nature walks were pretty tough, and I was thinking that I have to more than triple that elevation to get to the top.  Over-analyzing is something I have always done, and sometimes it can psyche me out of doing certain things, but I wanted to test my body to see how far I have come since July. 

 

As we began the climb I could tell my body was in for a challenge.  Since I do a lot of my cardio on machines I wasn’t used to walking on uneven ground. My ankles were going in all kinds of directions and that is always a scary sign for me because I have such weak ankles. With all this going on I pushed forward and continued to climb higher. There were a couple of times that we had to do a little bit of a climb onto a higher rock, and each time I was able to easily clear whatever was in the way. Once again I was really shocked by how much progress I had made and how easy things were for me to do. 

 

When you are just looking up at the top of the rock you lose sight of how high you have climbed. We got around the halfway point of the hike and took a little break. The best part of the break was that I really didn't need the break because I was tired, but because it was just so cold outside and we wanted to get out of the wind for a second.  As we continued the climb, I kept waiting to get out of breath and break it to everyone that I needed to stop.  But it never came. I just kept going and going. It was such an unexpected feeling to have. 

 

We finally reached the top of Enchanted Rock and the view was just amazing. What was even better was that I got to do it with some great friends.  As we stood at the top, one thought kept coming to my head, “I would have never been able to do this six months ago.”  I wasn’t sad for myself-- I was more excited about the fact that I am taking care of what has always held me back from doing things like hiking Enchanted Rock. For such a long time I would have said 'no' to going, but now that I went and got to experience the excitement you get from hiking all the way to the top, I know I have been doing something right in my life. Then I kept thinking that if I could hike up Enchanted Rock with ease, what is next for me? What will I conquer next?