With the installation of a climbing wall at work, they needed to have safety trainings and waiver signings and all that legal stuff so that people could use and enjoy climbing and do it safely.
Because of our convention that wall sat there unused for a couple of weeks. I was sad for the wall. Because I've become friends with our Wellness staff and am willing to help out, they asked if I would take part in the training. So with a few coworkers the climbing company that installed the wall trained us on what we needed to know to keep our employees safe. And really... it's pretty simple stuff. I really think you would have to be really clueless to get seriously injured on this climbing wall. The auto-belay device is pretty simple to use, and while a bit scary before you get used to the "free fall" it allows before catching you (it really isn't a free fall, but it almost feels like it for a second!) - it is quite safe as long as you are under 330 pounds. Then with a partner belaying you - as long as that person is paying attention it is very safe - there is a extra loop and loose knot at the top that majorly slows down any descent, and then the grigri locking device is very slow as well. Honestly it's too slow for my tastes, but it is very safe - and that's what a corporate gym needs if it wants to stay around, right? More injuries = more costs = NO GYM. So safety is good. Same reason while I don't like the no-shirtless-workouts rule, I understand that it makes sense for a corporate workout facility so that they can continue operating said facility and avoid complaints/lawsuits/etc. Ugh. Our litigious and finger-pointing society is a pain sometimes.
I have really enjoyed conducting these climbing safety trainings this week. I've only done 3 trainings, but it's nice to see people figuring out that they can DO it, and they can enjoy it. Plus I've been able to use my harness and my climbing shoes a lot! Not quite as much actual climbing as I might like, but I'll get there.
The new Yoga teacher has had some great classes. I haven't learned much new yet, but that isn't the point right now. I'm feeling the challenge and growth from the simple stuff, and I need that right now.
Tuesday night we had our weekly running night - we went up to Mueller Park again and even though I was feeling like I was not quite recovered from whatever cold/flu hit me last weekend, I pushed the pace a bit for the first mile, then about a mile and a quarter I slowed and let my brother pass me - partially to see if I could see my younger cousin who had never been on that trail before, and partially because I was TIRED! He was back with my brother in law behind some bikes Matt and I had just passed, I didn't wait long because I didn't want to lose the good momentum! Kept up and had Matt in view ahead of me for the next mile or so, then lost him a little over a half mile from the top. Doh! Reached the benches just above Elephant rock feeling pretty good, then almost collapsed with a GUSHING of fluid from my eyes, nose, mouth - CRAZY! It was seriously like the remaining sickies decided they needed to get out FAST. Rested for a few minutes fighting off more horseflies than normal until Ben (bro-in-law) and Nate (15 yr old cousin - ah the powers of youth HA!) made it to the top. Then we turned around and headed back down!
Normally Matt and I kick off pretty fast, and while we weren't exactly SLOW, we were significantly slower than normal the first couple of miles down because we let Ben and Nate go first. In Ben's defense, he bikes 20+ miles to work (then back for even more!) a lot, and he had biked a lot the day before so he was pretty fatigued. When we reached the pipeline scar there was a decent sized group of Crossfit-type people who had just reached their 'top' of run, so we ran through them to continue on down. OF COURSE with an audience like that and me in back, I stepped on a perfectly placed rock and slid ever-so-gracefully down right in the middle of them all. I was laughing pretty hard and popped back up real quick (with a little help from the group in trying to catch me actually) and kept running. About a half mile to a mile later - I was still in the back of our little group with Matt right in front of me, going fairly slow still, when 2 of the Crossfit group passed us "We're racing our group! Excuse us!". I'm not very competitive but when 2 guys run past and I could probably beat them in a race... I gotta at least try! Matt apparently had the same thought so he passed Nate and then Ben and took off, I held back a while and got Nate to speed up for a little while (I don't think he wanted me to pass him) but finally said "Nate I'm going to have to pass you now" and took off, passed Ben, and ALMOST caught up to Matt a few times, but not quite. I also almost fell again right near the bottom. It was getting pretty dark under the trees so I'm glad I didn't kill myself! It was a lot of fun to let go like that at the end. Ended up with just under 7 miles - about 36.5 minutes up, and 25 down! Great run!
Today I was able to make it back to BJJ again - we worked on some chokes and arm bars from mount. Coughed a bunch because my throat was a bit overly tender, and I tweaked my elbow a little while the other guy was trying an Americana.... not sure why because on the other arm it didn't tweak that at all. Weird. Leverage. Huh. ANYWAY, I was glad to get back into it!
Grr I hope this elbow doesn't hurt for too long...
I'm really looking forward to Yoga, Climbing AND Crossfit tomorrow! It's going to be fantastic!
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