1985: I’m the captain of my high-school cross country team. Ergo, I am fit for life.
2008: Friends invite me to join them on a three-day hike up Mt. Washington, the Northeast’s highest peak. Training? Not for this elite athlete. I’ll just borrow some gear and go.
Mt. Washington, Day 3: I’m exhausted and sore beyond comprehension. My borrowed gear is now divided between my friends as my body is incapable of forward motion with added weight. My nickname is “Albatross”. If we end up in Donner Pass, I’ll be first on the menu.
2009: I astonish everyone (including myself) by asking to join them as they hike the Grand Canyon. I want to try again to be a hiker, not simply the impostor I was. It takes convincing. They make clear to me the serious challenges we’ll face. We all know I’ll need to be a different person than the one who crawled down Mt. Washington and a different person would actually train for this hike. So I do. (Cue theme from Rocky.)
I buy a backpack of my own and fill it with dumbbells, carrying it around like a toddler. I start on straightaways, move up to hills, then graduate to mountains with names like “Breakneck Ridge”. Have I mentioned my fear of heights? Sometimes I doubt my goal, but never enough to give up. So I don’t.
The Grand Canyon: My friends are understandably dubious. Imagine my delight and their surprise when I fairly bound down the trail, light on my feet. Each new step brings wonder and a sense of accomplishment.
My reinvention occurs halfway down the Canyon. Looking around me, I think about what I am doing; what I have done to get here. I’m confident, prepared and happy. I am a hiker.
NEXT IN THE REINVENTION STORY CONTEST: A COCKTAIL OF CURIOSITY, CAUTION AND COURAGE
