• Home
  • blog
  • speaking
  • Published Work
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

eunice ann

tales of a girl trying to make sense of it all.

inclinations.

August 22, 2016 by euniceann

Somewhere in the middle, false summit in sight.

The Manitou Incline has been on my Colorado bucket list for several years, after a few of my friends tackled it as part of a cross fit workout they were doing. I remember the first time I heard about it—a trail, less than a mile long, but with a 2,000 foot elevation gain—my response was, “That sounds absolutely insane. I wanna do it.”

And so, for whatever reason, seeing a friend post Instagram photos on Saturday evening triggered a reaction in me that told Alissa, “we are doing this tomorrow.”

And we did.

But even getting to accomplish that goal wasn’t so easy. What my spontaneous self didn’t realize was that the Pikes Peak Summit Marathon was that day and access to the incline was temporarily cut off (on a side note, while I do have a goal to summit a 14’er, I do not have any desire to literally run to the top and back down. Why anyone else would is beyond me). I also didn’t realize that was the same day that the incline would be closed for repairs for 4 months.

Not to be deterred, Alissa and I hung out in Manitou Springs for a few hours before heading back to the trailhead. I may or may not have completely lied to the “gatekeeper,” who still wasn’t letting anyone through to hike the incline, even after the designated period of time that we were told we had to wait.

Once we got on the trail, I took a look up the steep climb ahead. Naturally, it seemed easy enough, but I figured that with all the stories I’ve heard, the one about appearances being deceptive was likely true. I don’t think we made it but 40 or 50 steps before Alissa decided that we should give up and go back down. I baited her with the promise of ice cream and we kept going. We were passed at regular intervals by more ambitious climbers, we relayed back and forth with another couple who was taking their time like we were, and we stopped regularly to look back and enjoy the views. At one point, we started setting short 5-10 step goals to focus on the ascent, and I think that was what got us to the end. It was a grueling climb, and I was impressed that we both managed to summit without injury.

As we hiked back down (the much easier Barr Trail) and were passed by latent marathoners, I tried to talk to Alissa about the metaphor for life that the incline represented:

At the summit of the incline, looking down on Manitou Springs

We’ve all had challenges laid before us, without the end necessarily in sight. We knew it was out there, but even when we thought we were close, we realized we’d hit a false summit and still had an even more grueling path ahead of us. But sometimes, you just have to focus on what’s right in front of you and keep moving forward. Eventually, you’ll look back to see how far you’ve come and be motivated to keep going. And when you reach the top, the feeling of accomplishment is overwhelming.

Or you could always get what Alissa did out of it — “I don’t feel any different at all.”

lessons from the running trail.
beauty isn’t skin deep.

Kindred Convos Podcast Interview

Going There Podcast Interview

Dear Grown Ass Women™ Ambassador

dear grown ass women ambassador

instagram

Follow on Instagram
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins
There has been a problem with your Instagram Feed.
Error: No posts found.

top essays

beauty isn’t skin deep.

Growing up, I can’t say that I ever felt beautiful. I was tall and scrawny with big, frizzy hair and a gap in my front teeth wider than the Grand Canyon. Most of my clothes were hand-me-downs from the girls at church, so they were often out of style and far too short for my gangling limbs (when capris came back in, I cringed, recalling all of the jokes about

[ Read More ]

time is irrelevant right now.

I wish I could press pause right now, I really do. That might seem crazy when the whole world seems to be on a collective pause, thanks to this crazy virus and our even crazier government that can’t seem to get a handle on it. But life hasn’t slowed down for me since COVID came crashing into our lives. Very much the opposite, in fact. While I am unbelievably grateful

[ Read More ]

vaulted

© 2005-2020 Eunice Brownlee