Week 38: Flat Iron

This is a post I do not want to write. No, I didn't gain anything, but I lost JUST over a pound. I’m 87% sure I won’t meet my goal this weekend, and that has been really hard for me to swallow. Last week was great until I woke up on Friday with a terrible sore throat. My need to heal this before my BIG hike the following day resulted in 7 different types of throat lozenges (Smith Brothers and Pure Honey worked the best, 20 calories each…boo), diet juice (I can’t swallow water with a sore throat, but juice goes down just fine), 2 fruit pops (70 calories each), and more tea than I ever want to drink again. I weighed in at 219.2 on Saturday (-1.2lbs). The good news is that I am FINALLY under 220 (Seriously, I hate the number 2, and will continue to hate it until I am under 200), the bad news is that I am 4.2 lbs away from my goal. Losing that much in a week may have been possible a few months ago, but I just don’t see it happening right now. SO, I am reevaluating my goals moving forward to reflect this minor bump. Ugh.

The GOOD part of this post is the hike I did this weekend. Flat Iron. Ever heard of it? Have you hiked it? To put it mildly, I was terrified. Many people told me this was the toughest hike they had ever done. And they were FIT. I knew there was a climb, but I wasn't completely sure what to expect.

The little teeny dot at the top of the wash (middle of the picture) is ME. I'm the one on the right.

The picture above is the wash about 2 miles in. This picture does not do the steepness justice, NO picture does. IT WAS STEEP. So much so that it was more like a slide on the way down. Once you make it up this brutal beaut you start the last mile, and the rest of your climb. My pace was pretty good for a while, but the climb got to my quads. I had to stop for 15 seconds every 30 seconds, and that definitely lengthens a hike. Turning back would have been easy (and looking back, a whole lot less painful), but I am NOT the type of person to turn back. I am a fighter, and I was determined to get to the top.

We continued onto the summit before dropping back down to the flat iron. The picture you see above is the view from the summit – the Flat Iron is the flat, iron shaped thing to the left. The group of hikers is below.

I felt feel so accomplished! I have been in awe of people who have hiked this. THEY have been MY inspiration, they have done the thing I wanted to do but thought I couldn’t (yet), they were the people that kept me going – and now I join the ranks.

The hike UP, however, was NOTHING compared to the hike down, and boy do my muscles know that. I just about fell in church yesterday when my legs locked up while attempting to walk (my upper body was still moving forward, but my legs were not = flat on my face), but luckily caught myself. I DID biff it at my house, and I can barely walk/stand today. Tomorrow is day 3 and my DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) should be gone. I am definitely looking forward to it.