history admires the wise, but elevates the brave. ~ edmund morris

its all really a series of events that led from one to another. after work sometime last week, S tells me that there will be a wall climbing competition up in a coupla months. i did not give it a second thought. i know that i am unfit and completely unprepared for competition.

for one thing, my techniques are mostly salah. where i need to use my fingers, i use my palms. where i am supposed to use my toes, i use my heel.

for another, aku sungguh tak fit. for all the traveling that i have done, i have great stamina and endurance, but i have no upper body nor abdominal strength. i have no abs, might be a more illustrative statement. i’ll need to shed some kilos if i want to be a more effective climber.

and i still think i’m not brave enough. this is where people like Iz and W tell me that “it is all in the mind!!!” yea yea… but i am still afraid of heights and i am still afraid of falling.

so, while training at the boulder wall yesterday (oh yes, boulder baby!), WY tells me that i am expected to sign up for the upcoming competition. as motivation, she helps me pick out my very first climbing equipment: a cherry red chalk bag. Iz jumps right in and volunteers to coach me – in exchange for some dramatic ego-trip photos of himself climbing.

and so i am caught in between joining or not joining the competition and my compromise is this: if i can do the 6B walls at least by the time competition comes, i will participate. Iz tells me that i’ll need to come to the gym at least twice a week for techniques training which i am not sure i can commit to la. my once a week pun dah penat. ni nak kena double pulak.

PS tells me that sports like running and swimming would tone muscles in all the wrong places where climbing is concern, and i’m ideally supposed to do pump practice for upper body strength. a coupla weeks ago, i saw W practicing this strength with iron weights. aiya.

and me? well, i am just praying for guts. guts to have the discipline to work out. guts to be braver at the wall. guts not to chicken out at the last minute.

i came across the latest issue of action asia just two days ago and it has a feature on rock climbing at krabi. what more can i say, its at krabi! ~ and just like that, ladies and gentlemen, i have my mind set on being the best climber i can in the next coupla months!