It's my birthday....and I'll.....

Well, today is my birthday. I do plan on having cake. I bought gluten free cupcakes from a local bakery. I do not plan on going over board as I know it will make me feel sick and I don't want that. I know that will not sit well with some bloggers but it is what I have learned works for ME. I do not deal well with depriving myself 100%; however, I know enough NOT to look at "treats" as something I should turn to on a daily basis or even a weekly basis. I certainly do not subscribe to eating just because everyone else is eating something. I deal quite well with the holiday season and manage not to indulge in things that are available every day. I only choose to indulge on things that are well worth it and even then it is not to the extent that I would have in the past. I know that there will be a point that I need to cut even more back and when I reach that point, I will. In the meantime, I will have my cupcake today. I will go to boxing class tonight. I will spend some time with my husband. I will do what I choose to do! I will take most of the day off.

Yesterday to signify the last day of my 47th year, I did something that I would have thought impossible at the beginning of that year. I climbed to the TOP of the Manitou Incline. If you have read my blog earlier this month, you know that I already did part of the incline. But everything in me wanted to prove that I could make it to the top. So, I made plans to do it on November 25th of 2012....and I DID!

Yep, that says 8565 feet in altitude (you start at about 6500 feet) and 2610 steps. It was hard. It was challenging. It was so worth it!

So, today I turn 48 and today will be another day of reflection and looking forward. I can't wait to see what I accomplish this year. I had a lot of time to think yesterday. As some of you know, I do not step on the scale very often. I have no idea how much weight I have lost this year. I will have an idea later today when I go to the doctor but to me, the important thing is how I feel (emotionally and physically), what physical challenges I can meet, how my clothes fit (or don't fit...i.e., too loose these days). This year I have felt great for the most part. I have met many physical challenges. I have had to remove boxes of clothes from my wardrobe. I believe I have had a successful year.

Well, this is enough for a birthday post. I may be back later to post about the upcoming year and what I hope to accomplish!

Happy to be at the top!

My jeans are just getting too big...

Today I noticed how big my jeans are getting. I happened to be at a bridal shop with a friend (she found a dress!) and others. There were lots of mirrors all around and I happened to catch myself in the mirrors and saw just how big the jeans really are. I remember it was not many months ago that they fit for the first time. Now I need to go shop again.

I really do not know how much weight I have lost this year. As I say, I am holding a grudge against my scale and I don't tend to step on it much; however, I do have some photographic evidence of progress. I am taking a big step right now and sharing it. I am not sure why this is so difficult to do but it is. I like the anonymity of my blog. I also think that part of the issue in sharing these photos is that I always have a problem with feeling like I am bragging and looking for kudos for people. I'm not. I am also not looking to be labeled an "inspiration" because I certainly do not feel like one.

Anyway, here are the photos over the last 22 or so months.

 

Updated to add these photos based on hubby's encouragement

 

I am not sure how difference you see between July and today but I can tell you there is a difference. Keep in mind that even in January of 2011, I was working out like crazy and had even worked with a personal trainer for about 10 months. It wasn't until I really started to listen to my body and to change up my work outs that I started to see progress.

Well, there I shared the photos. They are now out there for the "world" to see. As a final word, I just want to say that clean eating and hard work do produce results. I too think that it helps to step out of your comfort zone and look fear in the face.

I took on the incline...

So, today a friend and I went out to take a hike. One of the things we have talked about doing for the past few months is the Manitou Incline. When we discussed doing a hike today, we thought about doing another one when I thought about the Incline. We agreed that we would try it.

Then yesterday I started to do a lot of research and I started to fear the incline. I really did not think I could do it. I knew there was a bail out point but I didn't even think I could make it that far. When I talked to her last night, we thought we would go and check out the incline. We would decide if we wanted to try climbing to the bail out or look for a different hike in the area. We thought if we need to do so, we could start up and come back down the incline (not recommended by the "friends of the incline").

Well, we got there today and this is what we saw.

 

It didn't look too bad so we started up. I thought that we would make it up to the no trespassing sign (yes, part of the incline is on private property), which was about 600 steps up the incline. We walked...rested...walked....rested. We made it to the no trespassing sign and kept going. It was shortly after that point that I looked back down and thought that there was NO way I was going back down that way. It looked scarier going down that it was going up. 

We got a bit over half way to the bail out section and this is what it looked like when we looked back down the hill:

 

 It is actually a bit steeper than it looks in this photo.It was right after this point that we hit a section where I actually had to start crawl up some of the steps because they were so far apart and quite a big step between the rail road ties. It was also in quite rough shape as a lot of it has been washed away and then reset with rebar and big iron culverts.

The bail out look so far away. I had to stop looking down the hill and just look forward. It helped to count steps. More rest breaks were taken but we kept going. I felt sorry for my friend as I am sure I was slowing her down but finally the bail out was in sight.

This is the last shot on the incline that I took:

We had made it to the bail out section. We met that goal....the one I did not think we would do. Now it was just down the trail to get back to the car. Of course, the trail down was longer than straight down the incline but it wasn't as scary. Here is the Garmin report from the hike:

 

So it was long in distance but it was quite steep. This whole year has been able doing what I considered impossible. Next time I do the Incline I want to go to the top....maybe next year!