A friend invited me along for a trip out to the countryside. Th eplan surrounded an event taking place at a local farm just on the outskirts of a small town. A basic 5k run through various obstacles. Normally, there would be no issue, but this past year had weakened me considerably. In the sense, that I realized, I'm a fairly proficient cook. Needless to say, I ate my way into a cozy plushy new body.
I agreed to the event considering it was 2 months away. There was plenty of time to run off a little of the weight. Weeeks of early morning runs, and weightlifting consumed me to the point of overconfidence. While on a run, i noticed a trail i had yet to go down in the woods. "Couldn't hurt." I thought to myself. I've always felt more comfortable running in the forest,. Exhaustion never seems to find me in that environment, and the privacy is nothing short of peaceful.
Running through miles of hilly terrain and fallen leaves, I felt at ease. The silence of the forest gave way to the babbling of a brook nearby. Of course it caught my interest, so i naturally took something of a detour from the trail. Arriving shortly, I stumbled upon a miniscule of water seeping in and through a series of heavy sheet rocks along the creek bed. The stream rested at the base of a ditch along side a nearly flat wall of dirt.
As I crossed the creek, I gazed intently up at the wall which seemed almost perpendicular to the ground. It couldn't have been more than on hundred feet to the top. I pondered the thought of climbing over it. It was in the direction of my home after all. As far as hills go, it isn't very tall. The only concerning factor is that it is fairly steep and comprised mostly of dirt and roots. Not much to really get a handle on.
It didn't take long to make up my mind. "Over we go." I nervously joked to myself. Climbing the base of sheet rock was easy, but only 15 feet up, there was nothing but loose dirt and patches of mud. Avoiding the mud I dug small hand and foot holds along the wall. Packing them tightly, I tested them with a gentle punch or kick. Remaining stable, I slowly made my way to the top. Digging, packing, and climbing, I was nearly 3 quarters of the way to the top. Turning my had back down to the creek I thought about how high up I was. It wasn't long before I realized that 100 feet or 10,000 feet, either one is gonna do some damage.
I pushed the thought out of my head and turned my attention to the roots sticking out 5 feet above my head. Nearly to the top now. I could see patches of grass overhanging along the edge of the hill. One small tree was practically growing from the edge with exposed roots driving into the side of the dirt wall. Now, one would think, that roots would provide stronger holds to grab onto. The difficulty however, is the inability to see exactly what the root has to offer. It's basically a gamble on which one to grab hold of.
Reaching my right hand up to the first root, I pullled on it tightly to test it's weight bearing capability. Holding strong I hauled myself up, digging my feet into my previous hand holds. Alternating slowly between root, and newly made foot holds, I was finally to the top. Only roughly 3 feet to the top. The problem here, is I didn't consider how loose the soil up here would be. It's practically sand. My old technique of digging in and packing wouldn't work up here. Only the thin root my right hand held tightly, and the two footholds remaining holding me up, I could only admire the predicament I've put myself in. I can't go up, and I can't go down. I suppose I could go down, but the hill happened to curve out slightly, so reaching down for a foothold, is fairly difficult. Well, there's only way to go from here. My eyes catch the leaning tree once again. Surely that will be my ticket to the plateau.
This is where the stupidity sets in. A difficult situation presents its self, and a seemingly easy solution happens to be there. Without thinking much on the cons of this gambit, I considered pushing off my final footholds and leaping up to the leaning tree. Through a few exercises of gaining courage, I pressed hard into the footholds and jumped up with my entire body now free from the wall. With no attachments, i rise up towards the tree. Slamming my dominant hand around the base of the tree, i quickly swing my left hand to lock my fingers together.
Shit! My right hand slipped. Without time to think, I jammed my right foot into the side of the hill as hard as I could. Falling sideways my left hand caught hold of a thin root from the leaning tree. Dangling along side the wall with my right hand and left foot unattached, I held on with a death grip. Taking a deep breath I looked up to the edge of the grass only 2 feet above me. I can definitely reach, but whatever move I make next will be the last one. The soil from my foot hold is tumbling out in a landslide of unfortunate actions. It won't last for but a few seconds longer. The thought of the foot hold giving way, and me sliding off the curve of the wall plagued my mind. How stupid would it be to die, because of this small hill? I won't pretend to have thought about something profound, or draw strength from some forgotten memory. The fact of the matter is, that I simply didn't want to fall.
I looked down at the torrent of soil pouring out of the hill side around my foot. Screw it! I drove my left foot into the hillside and yanked my right foot free. Kicking off the hill with the left foot, I began to slide. Jamming my root foot parallel to the wall, i pulled up on the root with my left hand as hard as I could. Only 2 feet to go. Extending my right hand all the way to the grassy plateau, I dug my fingers into the ground. One last heave, I pushed off with both feet, and pulled up as hard as I could manage. Chest rising over the hillside, I flung right leg over the edge and rolled onto my back. Breathing heavily, and covered in dirt, I rested for a moment. Looking over my shoulder at the steep drop below into the sharply edged sheet rock, I couldn't help but speak aloud, "Well, that was fun."
