The Eye of the Tiger

Yesterday was a huge day for me.

 I did the Santa Monica bike ride again. I did it the 1st week with Desi and we made it out about 6.5 miles, it took forever, we huffed & puffed all the way, our legs and butts were sore for 2 days afterwards.


But yesterday we owned the bike ride!


We did the 10 miles from Maxella St. in Marina Del Rey to Temescal Canyon Road in Pacific Palisades and back with great lung capacity and strong legs…and it took under 2 hours! Desi wasn’t sure she could do it when we set out, but after only a couple miles she realized she had indeed improved greatly from week 1. So we were victorious in the morning.

Then came the afternoon victory! Due to my tree pollen allergies I hadn’t been scheduled for the hike yet. Desi did the hike her very 1st week and she got sick as a result - she got dehydrated and tried so hard to keep up with everyone else that she hurt her leg. Upon completion she had the chills the rest of the night and she had a bum leg for 4 days.

She was really apprehensive to attempt the hike again. I’ll admit, I was quite nervous. I’ve never attempted to hike a mountain and I had butterflies in my belly during the ride to the mountain. We split up into 2 groups - Desi & I stayed behind with Trainer Bronson.

The 1st half of the mountain is about 10 switchbacks that climb up higher and higher. After each switchback I was out of breath and had to stop for about a minute before continuing on. Taking a short breather was a smart idea because I never really ran out of energy. I kept plugging away and managed to get through all the switchbacks in pretty good shape.

After the switchbacks the rest of the climb is very doable…more climbing but only at certain intervals of the mountain. Yesterday was a foggy, cool day and we managed to climb above the fog to find the sun smiling down on us as we climbed higher and higher. Periodically we’d stop to smell the roses and look at the scenery. It was a gorgeous panorama!


So, we made it to the top and Bronson took a picture of me! It’s still on his cell so I have to get him to forward it to me, then I’ll post it - hopefully tomorrow.

My secret is I never looked up to see how high I had to climb. My other secret is I had my ipod and put on great tunes with a beat so I would dig in and climb to the beat. Coming down was difficult too…some parts were very steep and I had to walk down sideways in those sections to prevent myself from falling.

All in all I knew I had a tough day ahead of me, but I was determined to complete both the bike ride and the hike. I can do more and more everyday and knowing that I set a goal and didn’t allow myself an “out” is very satisfying! I didn’t use my sore legs as an excuse. I never thought I would ever climb a mountain…but I did and it’s a great feeling of accomplishment and pride!


Next time you have a big goal get the Eye of the Tiger!