I Am Strong

Yesterday morning, I went for a 5 mile run. Yesterday evening, I still had some nervous energy to spend, so I decided to go to Vertical Endeavors for some rock climbing. I usually go in the early afternoon, but yesterday was after 6PM, so it was a little more crowded. I have become fairly skilled with the auto-belays. It's still a challenge, but I'm good enough at it so that I can get to the top of a lot of the routes.

On the second level of the Minneapolis location, there are some slightly more difficult rocky routes in a room where they also have some manual belays. There was a guy there - frat boy type. Beer tee shirt. Probably more product in his hair than any self respecting guy should use (unless you're a greaser, then it's cool). He was attempting a route which was fairly difficult, and after one try he gave up and told his buddy it must have just been really rough.

A photo from Vertical Endeavors website

Once he put the clip back in it's holster, I clipped in and climbed it. Now, I've already done that one before, so I knew I could do it, but it is still a fairly advanced route - requires a lot of fancy leg placement (this dude was taller than me and had longer legs, so he shouldn't have had a problem). After I made it to the top and rappelled down, the look on his face was priceless - it was best described as a judgmental sneer, and yes he made eye contact with me while exhibiting that facial expression. Frat boy judgmental sneer. Love it. Oh I don't give a damn what other people think of me, but I kind of hope I made him feel a little bit uncomfortable. I was smiling and traipsed down to the lower level to attempt one of the really long routes. I didn't make it all the way to the top, but 3/4 is not too shabby. Not too shabby at all.

And this, my friends, is why I have the gun-show going on in my biceps without a weight lifting regimen.