for love

This is something I've been meaning to post for a long time, the incredible feeling after climbing. However, its a feeling that more like renewed but empty-charged batteries, so instead I end up productively lying in my bed until I realize I'm already two hours late for something and have to get up. I admit I dread getting up on a Saturday morning, knowing the Friday before when I'm drinking and staying up late with my friends, that I will be dehydrated and annoyed at my alarm clock the next day. That'll I'll forget something like food or realize I'm out of clean cargo pants to climb in, or clean socks. But the disappointment of rain falling, my greatest inhibitor to a day climbing, is worse.

It starts with a drive manuevering out of DC's re-routed grids, thankfully its usually early enough in the morning that I'm not dodging tourists and late enough that I'm not too worried about the previous night's revelers. After crossing Roosevelt Bridge I'm on the GW Parkway, nicely canopied with leafy branches, or during the fall and early spring, glimpses of the Potomac. Either Clara Barton Parkway or Columbia Pike comes next, Columbia full of turns, which I'll break fast before hitting a curve and then quickly accelerate out of, something I learned from an ex-boyfriend. Its a nice journey.

Climbing is a third social, chilling in a pristine setting, if Great Falls, a loud rushing river (or in low level times-a seductress tempting you dip and rinse off sweat), a third grunting in frustration or executing a shaky manuever, taxing your muscles, and a third moving up the rock like a ballerina. I'm skipping the part about belaying, cuz like with any careful climber, its the most worrisome. Has the most room for human error. I tell people I bring out for the first time, climbing isn't kind of dangerous, or a little dangerous, it is very dangerous and could result in serious bodily injury and death.

So that brings up the exhileration, the exhileration of executing moves flawlessly, challenging yourself to push harder than you've ever gone before, even with beads of sweat splattering below on the dry rock. Sure, if you fall, and say your belayer isn't paying attention, you could face some crazy bone fracturing injury on unforgiving rock, or unforgiving river, or the more forgiving bank of Carderock, but isn't that part of the exhileration?

I say there's no better cure for a hangover, no better cure for boredom, no better cure to make myself feel normal. That's not an easy feat when I'm regulating my sleep with Benadryl when I switch from the night shift to the early morning shift, when I'm eating irregular meals at odd times, drinking after long dry spells, and am not only stressed by deadlines at work, but deadlines for school.

This past Wednesday I went to Carderock, and I immediatley felt revived and energized, even though I hadn't slept well the night before, drank and ate too much the previous two nights, and spent a dreary blah day at work, the kind that sucks a person's soul and energy. For a warmup I climbed one area (don't have my book on me) and went for Sterling Crack again, this time got over the jug and got stumped an inclined crack which should've been a piece of cake. It was getting dark and other people were getting antsy ... well again this week, hopefully twice!!!