So after hiking Diamondhead a couple of weeks ago, Katy and I decide that we are rockstars and we are gonna do Kokohead. It’s only 1,048 railroad ties or “steps” to the top – can’t be that bad! And we swam over a mile yesterday – lets climb a volcano today! Yippee!!
My rockstar battle buddy Katy!!!
These pictures of course aren’t going to do it justice, but here is where we start. Way off straight into the distance you can see the path that leads STRAIGHT UP!
A few steps in we see some people (and one crazy guy) RUNNING down the ties. Katy’s husband says there is some 70 year old that does this multiple times a day!
There are stretches where you can’t see the whole trail because of the incline. It’s INSANE!! Just keep climbing, just keep climbing, just keep climbing…
This was my view when I had to sit down for a bit….
Had to let my stomach calm down….
Katy had to lean in cause I physically could not make myself stand up and look down simultaneously!
This was the AMAZING view from the top!
Way off in the distance you can see the last mountain we climbed! Diamondhead!
And this is Hanauma Bay from the top looking down!!! Never thought I would see that view!!
And from this view, it dawned on me just how far I ran during the marathon. Diaomndhead crater is there in the upper left corner and I ran all the way from the front of the mountain (actually where the Waikiki skyline is) to where the first little water inlet is on the bottom right corner of the picture. And back.
Seeing it from this vantage point really brought the accomplishment home in a remarkable way. And if I hadn’t faced my fear of heights, I would have never seen it.
Yeah, all I can do to stand there and not hug the mountain on all fours!
Battle Buddies Baby!!! We did it!!!
I am so glad I was able to do this. The crazy guy we saw running down the mountain (and a couple of others who did it twice in the time it took us to do it once!) made a comment as we passed him that stuck with me….
Us: “Can’t believe you can RUN down this thing! That’s awesome. Aren’t you afraid you are going to fall?”
Crazy Guy: Big smile, “No. We have different minds. I don’t think about falling.”
Hmm. Got me to thinking. Our main focus is what will be brought to fruition. If my main focus is fear, then I will be incapacitated. All the way up that mountain I had to keep telling myself some things…
No fear
All the way up – and all the way out! (What is chanted at us in spin class!)
Don’t feed the fears
Keep climbing
One step at a time
Baby steps
Look only in front and where your feet are going
Stand up and be proud of what you are accomplishing
Finish Strong
Victorious not Nauseous
Focus.
And we did.
And on the way back down when my stomach stopped flipping around, we ran a few of those last stairs too!
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