Major Goal Accomplished -- WOW!!

Sep 09, 2010

One of my goals when I started this journey -- outside of regaining my health -- was to be able to WALK up and down the mountain at WVU's football stadium to and from my parking lot and not have to take the handicap shuttle to the gate.

Well. . . this past weekend, that goal was realized!!  There's a series of wooden steps and landings built into the side of the mountain from my parking lot to the Stadium -- 18 flights of 8 - 10 steps with 10ft. landings separating them.  Going DOWN those steps was the easy part.    Then, once in the Stadium, I had to walk up steps to the upper deck where my seats are, and up MORE steps to my seats.  Mission accomplished. . . no huffing and puffing when I got to my seats and I didn't have to stop and catch my breath when I reached the upper deck landing.  WOOT!!  So far, so good, I'm thinking.

After the game, I descended the steps at the Stadium and stopped dead in my tracks outside the gate entrance, looking up at ALL THOSE STEPS going up to my parking lot.  We're talking UP at about a 60 degree angle -- UP that mountain.  I thought "No way can I do this" and I almost backed out and went to the waiting spot for the shuttle.  But my friend said "Nope. . . you're not getting out of it THAT easy". 

So, okay. . . here we go. . . UP those steps.  First flight. . . landing. . . Second flight . . . landing. . . and on and on. . . I begin to start getting this GREAT feeling that "Hey!!  I CAN do this!".  Halfway up the mountain, I had to stop for a couple of minutes and let others stream by me.  Off we go again. . . Another flight. . . another landing. . . and on and on we went UP those steps.  Finally arrived at the top and I had to stop, turn around and look DOWN to make sure I had really accomplished my goal.  Yep!!  People still streaming up the steps behind me, but I HAD ARRIVED!!  (In more ways than one).  I still had to make the trek all the way to the other side of the parking lot to get to the car, but by now, the adrenaline was really pumping and I knew I could make the last leg of the journey.

It was an amazing feeling to accomplish that.  FINALLY, the third year of going to the games, I felt NORMAL once again and am now looking forward to resuming hikes in the Smokies like I used to enjoy many, many years ago.

Not only have I reached my weight goal, resolved the health issues from being obese and wearing cute clothes -- and SHOES -- again, I can actually resume an active lifestyle like I enjoyed over 20 years ago.  Ohhhh. . . the dreams I have for the future. . .

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