Climbing with my wife
Last night I had the proud experience of intorducing my wife to rock climbing. To start out I belayed her on a climb to give her something to look forward to, then I showed her how to belay and tie in. I am very proud to report that she passed her belay test with flying colors on the first try, and her and i can go any time now and belay each other. It was neat because Karie and Jamie came out with us, and this was Karie’s first time doing any of this too, so Jamie and I committed a lot of our time out there to them, showing them how everything works and belaying for them. Not to say we didn’t get some climbing in ourselves. I redpointed one climb that I was having trouble with before, and I feel like I am ready to step up a notch and try a few harder climbs.
I tried out a new pair of Five Ten Ascents that i got off Steep and Cheap last week, and they were great. A little painful when I am not climbing just because they are that tight, but that is how they are supposed to be, and I anticipate they will stretch a little to fit my feet just right. I think I am really going to enjoy climbing with them.
Climbing has been such a great motivation to work out. If you remember, I committed to get up early and work out every weekday morning. So far it has been going great. I have been doing chest and back two day, arms two days, and running on the fifth day. Last week when we were in Mississippi, since we couldn’t work out anywhere, Nethaniel and Charles and I did countless push-ups. (ok maybe not countless, we actually did about 600)
Last note, having to do with climbing, last Saturday I hiked around Umstead State Park and found the boulders that everyone talks about there. Probably Ian and I will hook up this week or next and head out there to try out some climbing on real live rocks.
