Not older…better.

Went an hiked El Cajon mountain today, the El Capitan Trail. I really needed to be out there. I had a really tough week, a lot going on right now. Nothing terrible, just stuff I don’t want to deal with, or rather shouldn’t have to.
It was a great hike, it’s a challenging trail. As a friend once said “that trail has as many up’s as down’s”. With 4000 feet of elevation spread over close to 12 miles, it just is.

I’ve done this hike before a couple of times, it’s good training and I like to torture myself! Most clearly I remember the first time, it was terrible and I was unprepared. I thought how tough could it be? (The trail guide said difficult, duh) Well I didn’t make it to the top that day. As I came back down (& up) I was having leg cramps. I thought I might die or my legs would fall off. (Either would have fine considering the pain.)
Hindsight being 20/20 I should have had more water and training. I had to move as the parking lot gates locked at 5 and my car was in there. I passed on a ride down with the ranger, pride and all. I made it down, eventually, in a world of hurt.
Anywho, it was good today to make it to the top and back in record time (my record) and no pain. Well nothing a hot bath won’t fix. Mostly it felt good to leave my troubles on the mountain and know that I’m better than I was!