The next year I did Washington again, and Marsha was cheering for me as I came to that final pitch. I had to choke back the tears. It had been such an emotional and physical trial to get there. I walked up the final pitch again.
2018 was the last time I did the climb. Always slower than the year before. Always one of the last finishers. Never attempting that final pitch. I could have tried but I was so drained that falling was inevitable and why fall and break something.
Then I lost interest. We had to move. We were planning retirement, covid…
I am heavier now, and weight makes a difference going uphill. Certainly, my conditioning has not improved. But I remain steadfast in my view that God has blessed us with potential and I am not willing to say I have lost it. At 66 I will be one of the oldest Clydesdales.
Doing this calls for some realism. Have to lose weight. And quite a bit at that. The past few years have not been “slim ones” and if I am to make it I need get lighter than I was in previous efforts.
I can do more intervals in training. That is a kind of training which I avoided in the past. But it can help conditioning.
We lose strength as we age, so there should be strength training. I dislike strength training, so I avoided that in the past as well.
I reached out to find someone I can train with. That helps. Support and accountability can keep our hands to the plow.
These are all marginal gains. Small stuff in a sense. Maybe they add up.
There is a big gulf, however, between planning and fulfilling the plans. There is a difference between seeing the package sitting there, and opening it up. Every day God has a gift for us…. up to us to do the work.