Sunday, May 13, 2012

MY MOTHER'S DAY GIFT - CONQUERING THE "Y"

For Mother's Day I wanted one thing and one thing only...

To CONQUER the "Y".

The Hubs wasn't into it, but I persisted and with the help of some new hiking gadgetry (the way to my husband:s heart - gadgets of any kind) he got on board.  

And so yesterday, I did it....I conquered the "Y"!


The hike was harder than I wanted it to be.  First of all, I made the fatal mistake of failing to eat anything for breakfast, and boy, did that cause some problems.  I was really sapped for energy and was surprised how quickly I was tiring out.  

Second, it felt so hot on the trail!  There is no shade whatsoever on this hike and even though the ambient temperature was in the low 60's while we hiked, the sun beat down on us pretty hard AND there was no breeze at all.  So it felt pretty stifling.

Also, at the sixth switchback I realized I REALLY needed to use the restroom...and not something I was willing to take care of in a wilderness setting, if you know what I mean.  That plagued me for the remainder of the hike.  Several times I wanted to turn around just because of this issue.

You can see in the photo at the tenth switchback that I was ready to die.  I honestly had nothing left (or so I thought)  In fact, I quit here (I also quit at the eighth and ninth switchbacks LOL!).  Once you reach the tenth switchback there is a .16 mile trail that takes you to the "Y".  It was longer than I thought I had in me and there was one fairly steep section that I just couldn't bring myself to want to go up.  I told the Hubs that I was happy with reaching the tenth switchback, but I wasn't going any further.  Of course, in his mind, I'm sure he thought this was ridiculous - we were mere moments from the end.  He pushed me and told me not to give up - and it worked - eventually.  I got up and started hiking the last part of the trail....and half way up, I quit again (Poor Hubs - how he did not strangle me on this hike I don't know) - I even stopped and started to walk down.  

But I turned around...and I finished the hike.

I conquered the "Y"!

When I got up there, I literally spent 1 minute at the top and then immediately started back down (see comments about restroom issue - I seriously needed to get back down - how I had made it this far without incident is truly miraculous). 

In the picture above "The Descent" you can see my friend, Katy, who joined us on the hike.  Katy is a marathon runner, and incredibly fit.  When we told her we were hiking the "Y" and invited her to join us we told her she had to pretend to be out of shape - and under no circumstances could she wear those freaky toe shoes.  She barely broke a sweat on the damn hike!!  BUT, she was really awesome and stayed right with me the entire time.  And when I thought I was done - when I was ready to quit - she cheered me on and kept me going...THANKS KATY!

Big thanks to the Hubs, and the Girls and to Katy for indulging my desire to hike the "Y", and for encouraging me and sticking with me all the way to the top!  I can't say it was fun, but I can say it was totally worth it!!!


About the hike....

Here is the trail map for the hike.  You can see the multiple switchbacks.  The elevation gain on this hike is approximately 1000 feet, and round trip you cover 1.75 miles.  


Weight Loss Update...

I realize it has been a while since I updated my weigh in.  I weigh in on Saturdays (and right now on Fridays too for a friendly challenge with some lovely ladies - but Saturday is my OFFICIAL weigh in)

I am currently at 404.6 lbs!!

I am pretty happy that I am recovering from my detour, and that I am just about down to my low.

OF COURSE this week I am hoping to break the 400 lbs. mark.  WE SHALL SEE!

6 comments:

  1. Great comeback Connie!  What an awesome NSV!  You rock:)

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  2. GREAT JOB!!!  Thats amazing that you still pushed yourself when you felt like quitting!!  Thats the hardest thing to do :) 

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  3. You conquered the Y!!! AWESOME!!! You should be very, very proud of yourself :)

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  4. That is so GREAT!!!!!  Yea for you! and the cheering section who went with you! I have to say in the pictures you look great, what an amazing day!  Wed. was beautiful for a hike. I drove up Heber that day with the top down on my car. You see, I like to  look up @ the Y mountain from the car. I don't think I could have gone from the parking lot to the trail start. Amazing job! As you can see I am on fb too,would love to have lunch sometime with you. 

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  5. CONGRATS CONNIE! That is awesome that you conquered the Y! :)  You are definitely close to breaking the 400 mark--I'm excited for you!

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