DAY 1 - A Rocky Reunion

Oh Threshold! How I missed you. It looks mostly the same as when I left in mid-December, but a few new routes stick out.

First, I eagerly eye a new VB - the yellow route at right - it got some nice big holds and starts with your body wrapped around a corner, I thought this might be as good a place as any to get back on the wall.

I jumped up on the wall, and to my surprise, the climb was easy - the holds were large enough to really haul myself around on, and I flew straight to the top. With this little feather in my climbing cap, I looked for another wall to conquer.

My buddy, Chris, spots this tough looking V0 on one of the trickier walls - an experienced climber, Chris takes this V0 like it were a ladder.


He makes it look so easy, I can't help but jump on it myself.

I get an arms length from the top-hold and freeze. Vertigo, maybe, or just nervousness. The next hold is a right hand a few feet up, it's tricky and I'm already more than ten feet up. I'm trembling and about to down-climb this now terrifying problem when I think I hear Chris shouting "come on! you got it! keep going!" but when I look to find Chris, I learn that he is not the one shouting. I think it should be noted that climbers are the friendliest and most encouraging people - there i am, trembling like a dork, and this guy is pantomiming hand movements at me and shouting encouragement. "reach! you're almost there!"

Finally, I take a deep breath and make a grab for the right, pulling myself like a fish onto the deck, floppy but accomplished.

Hands torn and breathing hard, I feel pretty good about these two, while perhaps not technically challenging, they let me get back up there and round out some pretty high climbs.

And who knows? Maybe I'll climb again tomorrow.

Peace,
a

This is me.

Well, it was me, on my road to recovery, hobbling earnestly to and fro. A few months later, I'm a functioning man again! I can walk, stroll, and even saunter, but the running is still a chore, and the climbing is still difficult.

I've been revisiting all the easiest problems at Threshold, and working my way back up from the very basics. Even the easiest problems yield roadblocks for me in the form of inaccessible right-side maneuvers, forcing my left side to become a lot more formidable, but not enough to make up for the persisting imbalance. Mantling (getting up onto a ledge) is terrifying too, and an almost paralyzing vertigo hits me if I even dare to glance down, which makes the climb back down difficult.

So here I am, starting 2010 back at the beginning - doing V0s and v1s (if i'm well-rested) again, and feeling weak and silly. But no more! Time to climb, big-time. And to get good I've got to get focused:

• Eat better, and smarter. The lighter you are, the easier you are to lift, right?
• Cardio! Just because it hurts to run does not mean there aren't other ways I can be doing my cardio - bike, row, jump on the elliptical, for chrissake, just do it.
• Practice, practice, practice. I should be climbing right now. Or at least doing pull-ups.
• Show and tell. Share it all with you, internet. So you and me can get through this thing together.

So as of January 1st, 2010:
Andrew Mena
Height:5'10"
Weight: 252lbs
Climbing: VB, V0, V1

Alright Internet, here's to a progressive new year.

Yours,
a