May 28, 2010

We will soon be on our way to Tanzania to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. My husband plotted a hike profile showing our elevation gain each day. Afterwards he said he knew why the mountain is called "kill a man," he says he is trying to figure out what the jaro stands for. Hope he still has his sense of humor on summit day.
I have bicycled at least once a week for the past year, but when I started seriously training to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, I made more of an effort to push myself especially when riding up hills. When my quads start protesting, I just think of climbing the mountain and pedal through the burn.
Today, I bicycled about 30 miles round trip to a farmer's market east of where we live. The route was hillier than the one we normally take up the coast. I was surprised when I was able to make it up the hills fairly quickly (at least for me) and the burn didn't kick in until near the top. Guess all those stairmaster workouts and squats are paying off! I stopped at the top of the longest hill on the way home, and I think I disappointed the man who rode by shortly after on his bicycle. I'm sure he was trying to pass me on the hill, and I took away the thrill for him by simply pulling over. ha ha
Tomorrow we are headed to Mexico to build a house during the Memorial Day weekend with Amor Ministries (www.amor.org). This will be our fourth time. I'm usually pretty sore by the end of the first day of construction. Working out like I normally do does not equal a full day of hammering and sawing. We will return on Monday afternoon, and a family will have a completed, sturdier house than the one they currently inhabit. It's a pretty amazing process, and always so surprising to witness sure dire poverty less than an hour south of north San Diego.