Pushing Beyond

A few days ago I went up a mountain, and then came back down.

 

It's strange how a simple sentence can say so much and so little at the same time.

 

In reality I climbed about 2000 feet in elevation and covered at least two klicks (as the crow flies, definitely not as the goat climbs) in 2 hours and 20 minutes with my full combat loadout plus a ruck filled with day and night gear and stopped (so I wouldn't pass out) for less than 5 minutes two or three times.

 

Now that sentence comes closer, but still does not convey the agony.  After the first thirty minutes I thought I had reached my limit.  Everything after the first thirty minutes came from some deep reserve that we rarely tap.

 

I asked God for strength, I repeated "just keep swimming" from Finding Nemo, I blanked out a few times, I stopped, I sucked air, I put my hands on my knees, but I didn't quit.

 

I learned quite a bit about the word essential.  As in what I thought was 'essential' for my ruck.  I also remembered what I had forgotten about elevation.  A mile above sea level is something worth remembering.  I also remembered that there is a difference between 18 and 38.

 

However, we did set the land speed record for time from the FOB up to the OP.  And I guess that is worth something.  Perhaps its also worth remembering--for a later time--that we can push beyond what we think is possible...physically and mentally.  I can clearly identify with David as he wrote in II Samuel 22:3, "....He is my shield and SAVING STRENGTH, my defender and my place of safety," and of course in verse 34, "He makes me like a deer that does not stumble, He helps me stand on the steep mountains."

 

Its amazing how a simple verse can say so little to me at times, and then, at other times, so much.

 

K12