The "holy crap I can't believe I did that" hike

Unfortunately I can't get my pictures to download off my camera at work, so I'll have to update the post with pictures tonight.

Will and Rick set up a hike for some coworkers, and invited me to come along. Because it was on a Wednesday, I had to ask my trainer if I could switch my appointment to Thursday. I should have known what I was getting into with the hike when my trainer was ecstatic that I was going. I even got a long voicemail from him full of excitement and encouragement and comments about my "journey."

There were seven of us coworkers, one husband, and two teenage sons. I was a little nervous about this hike - four/five miles round trip, I'm not a hiker, I work with these people, and I was with my boss! But, I was determined to do my best, and I knew I was stronger and in better shape after six weeks of working out.

Some of the group was in really good shape and booked it up the mountain - Rick and the kids, and the kids' dad. The rest of us took it as we could, and no one was afraid of stopping to catch their breath. About a mile up the hill I commented that this was really hard, and Jane told me she thought I was doing great. Yes, because I'm quiet and you can't hear how hard I'm breathing! This was not an easy hike! I had decided that if I could at all make it, I was definitely going all the way to the top. I wanted to prove to myself that I could.

The last 100 feet or so of the hike was steep and muddy, but I made it up. We were so lucky; the wind had blown the clouds away and we were treated to an amazing view.

The whole way up everyone encouraged each other and chatted, and I'm so glad I went. I knew that it would be good for me to spend some time with my coworkers outside of work - I get left out of office functions sometimes and don't work directly with anyone except my boss. I had no idea how much doing this one hike was going to let me into the club though. Even before it, when Jane found out I was going it was like a switch flipped and all of a sudden she liked me. And today in the office people want to hear how it went, and are so happy for me that I made it to the top. Most of the people here know that I'm working out six days a week and making big changes and they've been so supportive. I've gotten a couple of big hugs for making it all the way to the top =)

Coming down was its own kind of hard. It's easier to avoid roots and rocks when you don't have gravity working against you. I had a couple of slip and almost falls, and told Will "hey, at least my butt hasn't hit the ground yet!" 30 seconds later, BOOM! Butt's on a root. Another 30 seconds, BOOM! I'm surprisingly not sore today, except for my butt bruises.

About halfway down it started to get dark, but wasn't too bad until the last 20 minutes or so. I was right behind Will, who's basically a goat on these hills, and I could hear my boss talking behind me, so I knew I'd be fine. Will was great about letting me know what obstacles were in the way. When it got really dark I got a little anxious and at one point had to call out to Will to stop because I couldn't see him anymore and that freaked me out.

People talk about the high you can get from exercise and that kind of thing, but I've never really felt it. In the last couple of weeks I've started to get into a better mood when I finish my workouts, but I had no idea how exhilarated and happy I would feel after finishing this hike. That feeling alone almost made it worth it. I'm sure my sense of accomplishment didn't hurt my mood either.

I decided to do this on a whim, and I couldn't be happier that I did. I told the group that I was going to have to do this again in November before I leave, so that I can see the difference. I cannot remember ever doing something so physically challenging. Maybe swimming 200 fly or something, but maybe not.

It's really incredible to see the dynamic of this agency and the people who work for it. It's so different than anything I experienced in DC. You get a different kind of person who wants to do this work, but they also have to move around relatively often in order to move higher in their career. So, you have people from all over who come together like a little motley family. The family in our group is out here for a little while from Atlanta, Rick has been in Alaska for the last five years, and everybody has known someone else in the group before they all converged in Hawaii. I think that's part of the reason I've been feeling especially like an outsider at work. Moving out here has been one of the best things I could do for myself. I needed a different kind of atmosphere, and to push myself to do things outside of my normal realm of comfort.

I don't think I'm an outsider anymore. Jane just called over the cube wall to ask if I was going to this goodbye lunch today for our contract guy (he's the one I went on the lei-finding adventure with). No one had thought to invite me. I'll be going. I'm on the list now.