Conquering Vertigo

The 244 step program

Take your normal or garden variety 12-step program and what do you have? 12 measly steps.

I've found 244 serious steps on Baker Beach, down the hill from our house.

There are several ways to reach the beach, the most common being the National Park road to the parking lot. But go a little further north along the beach, towards the lovely bridge, and off to your right up the cliffs is a climbing path made of logs, rope and the ubiquitous volcanic sand.

244 logs roped together mostly in groups of 16 lead you up the hill to a trail running alongside a major Park road (Lincoln) and throughout some of the loveliest views in the Presidio. Going up those 244 logs is a tough pull for me right now, made worse by the Jesuit high school boys who practice for their track team by lapping me.

It's my new challenge, and a physical high, to go up and down those logs at least once a day. My short-term goal is to pace these kids in a three-time jogging loop, up and down, up and down, up and down. May never happen - at 41 I'm almost thrice their age - but it's good to have goals.

The mid-term goal is the 2006 Bay to Breakers, a San Francisco foot race up and down the hills of the city, starting at the Bay side of the Peninsula, and running up and over to the Pacific Ocean. It's in May, basically six months away, and I'm going to do it.

Long-term goal is re-capturing some of my former physical fitness. Over the last several years I put other peoples' needs ahead of my needs, including my need to exercise. Serving others become a black hole, meaning that a sudden opening in my schedule became a time to listen to someone else, not a time to go run around Rice University with the dogs.

I'm trying to learn from this mistake, a process which grows both easier and more difficult with age. Whereas the 244 steps simply grow more difficult with age.

posted by Woman In Love @ 10:33 PM