fun friends and a little rock climbing

I'm pretty lucky.  I have some fun friends here in ABQ.  My 26 year old friend, Sara, might be "a bit" more physically ambitious than I am.  Well, a lot of my friends are, whether they my age or younger.  But, Sara decided that we needed an active GNO.  None of this sissy movie-watching, food-centered, getting-dressed-up stuff.  She's pretty tough.  So are the other friends who came that night - Muffin can keep up with David's biking buddies.  Jamie can run circles around all of us.  Rowena, former Olympic skier with Olympian body intact after 2 babies.  I mean really, the list goes on.   So, Sara planned a late-night rock climbing evening.  I have to admit, I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to keep up and embarrass myself completely.  (really, no one wants to hit the dollar movie?!) To make matters worse, I had just torn apart my knee 2 days beforehand, I could barely walk from the car to the building.

So, I was pretty happy when I found out I wasn't all too bad at the climbing.  You are supposed to put your weight in your legs to climb, but with my knee, I found that I could keep up pretty well by using one leg and full strength of both arms.  I didn't do any free-bouldering or try any tricky over-hangs, but the rope belaying went well.  I also found out that my gangly gorilla arms and long torso came in pretty handy when reaching grips that were just out of reach for the others.  It was actually kind of fun.

 (me, Rowena, Jamie, Muffin)

 bouldering 

 a little friendly racing - these girls are competitive!

 a frustrating overhang

(me, at the top - yes dear, I made it to the top)

I'm not saying I'm going to take up the sport.  (Rowena had not one but TWO pair of her OWN climbing shoes?  Ya - I'll never get past renting, nor will I ever climb an ACTUAL rock.)  But, it was fun, and I think I'd go back if invited.  Plus, it WAS refreshing to hang out with some strong women who are not only intelligent, cool, and nice, but who are active as well.  I won't mention how late we stayed up or what time we got home.  The next morning I found out how old I was.  Young enough to appreciate having fun, but old enough to feel it too far into the weekend.