Progress in Poudre and Other Tales of November

Where do I begin? Grab a cup of tea and your reading glasses, this is nothing short of a novel.

My place of employment hosted the IFSC Lead World Cup in October, and my, oh my... I was either yelling, swooning, or basically going crazy at any given point throughout the whole weekend. Yelling for my friends who were competing (and the rest of the athletes who were nice to me). Swooning because, well... have you seen climbing muscles in person? No? I recommend the pictures from the Denver Post. Such a good time, hopefully more good times to follow!

November saw a visit from my parents, which turned out to induce feelings of wanting to live in Boulder for them. Which is perfectly fine, as long as I no longer live here. But since I'll be sticking around... I'd prefer them to wait awhile. I did enjoy showing off my city, which included a visit to the CU ice rink, breakfast at Snooze, and a trip to NCAR (fascinating, really). Not to mention lots of walking.

Mid-month, I visited RI for a pseudo-Thanksgiving. I saw family and friends, and my mom even cooked a turkey dinner on the wrong day (Complete with Nana's contribution of corn. Nothing tops it.). Too bad leftovers would never have made it on the flight back.

I also got to see my baby girls dance in their recital, which was so fulfilling. I have to take a moment to reflect on this: as a teacher, you obviously understand that you are affecting someone's life. However, no matter what you're teaching, it's the little itty-bitty details in your work that resonate the most. Yeah, they learn the academic/class lesson, but they always specifically remember something you may have said off-handedly one day or something that made an idea just click in their brain. Teachers have absolutely no way of knowing when these moments happen, and only long after the fact would it come to light. One of my girls acts like a grownup around me because I never tolerated her sass. With her mother, she's quite the little diva; and she flipped on the grownup switch when she saw I was there. Another of my girls remembered that I asked her to work hard while I was gone, and lo and behold, she's very proud of herself that she improved so much this fall. It's just amazing to me to see that the girls really did listen to me, not just in the "point your toes" sort of way, but how to be confident and how to treat each other. I am so proud of them, and no matter where I end up, they'll always be my girls. Another shining moment was seeing my assistant teacher, who first began her teaching career with me. I cannot express how honored I feel to have laid the foundation for the amazing teacher she has become. Her work this year was outstanding, completely fresh ideas and the girls all love her. I would not trade those 10 years if my life depended on it; I might be the teacher, but they shaped my life too.

Sunset on the 1st Flatiron hike

After a very early flight, it was back to the grindstone in Boulder. Anna and I had a Thanksgiving adventure, which entailed hiking the 1st Flatiron and then cooking a turkey-less dinner. Boulder was pretty quiet for most of the holiday week, so it was nice to be a little less crazy at work.
Summit picture!

Our romantic Thanksgiving dinner, haha!

This is how I feel about rocks.
Post-holiday, my friend Jordan mentioned a climbing trip, which I was immediately sold on. We explored the 420 boulders in Poudre Canyon, which is outside of Fort Collins. After rounding up 2 of our other friends from work, we packed her Jeep for a full day of bouldering. I was a tad apprehensive, to be honest; I hadn't bouldered outside in at least 2 years (yikes!), so I wasn't sure how my climbing was going to turn out. We got on some warmups first, and it did take a couple tries to feel like I was one with the rock again. An interesting thing used to happen with me and outdoor climbing, especially bouldering; I was always afraid. I doubted my abilities constantly. Despite knowing when I am physically capable, there's a mental game I have to play: commitment to the problems is something I struggled with. I couldn't find the motivation to go out on a limb and push myself.

Working a V3
Suddenly, there is a recurring theme: I had included lack of self-discipline in a past blog post, when I felt like I was missing it in relation to making myself do the things I love, to take time for myself. And here I was, warming up in Poudre, feeling the same defeated sensation after my first couple contacts with the rock. Upon topping out the first warmup, the jitters of adrenaline had surged and then subsided; I had the physical ability under my belt. Next up, mind games. Cue second warmup: first move, and I fall on my butt. Second attempt, and I am all over that entire problem. Somewhere around the second move, my intuition took over and climbed the thing without my head getting in the way. And suddenly, I was PSYCHED. Yes, I did just step through left and pull right to hit the next left hand hold without thinking about it... and it worked!! I even did the climb again, just for kicks, because I was so excited to be free of my thoughts! Such a relief! After this revelation that I am indeed the master of my thought patterns, we hopped over to the Puff boulder, where Jordan pointed out a V5 to try. I had my doubts merely because of the grade... I've only been climbing up to V3 in the gym lately. But, what did I have to lose? So I place myself at the start, heel hooking right, flagging left, and yank my butt off of the crashpad. First move is a right hold; and I got it. Ok, not a bad start. Second move, left hold. Holy cow, I got that too. This was the most surprising moment of the day for me... I was legitimately making a go of a V5! Time to reposition feet... left smear, right heel higher... and then I forgot where I was going next, so that was the end of that attempt. Shocked does not even cover what I felt about having made such a valiant first attempt on that climb; excited was the residual though. And now I can't wait to get back there to try again. Oh, let the training begin...

Jordan on an old-school V3
So, while there's not much doin' in my home and work life, my personal life has seen a huge boost in confidence and, maybe more importantly, excitement!! I don't remember the last time I was actually wishing it wasn't snowing so I could go climb my heart out. At the same time, this has made me feel relieved... I can indeed do things that make me feel good solely for the sake of self-gratification. Hurray! I have tapped into the motivation to do things I want and love to do. Thank goodness. And now, to cultivate that...


Maybe the next time I post, I will have had a chance to figure out what it means to follow through with the motivation.... we shall see! :o)

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