Nervous Fear ... subsiding...

Back from the afternoon of jtree climbing. Steph lead Moosedog Tower (south route?) - a 5.9, 3 pitch climb (3 pitches due to rope drag mostly... ). 2.5 stars in my book out of 5. A few memorable moves here and there, but nothing incredibly spectacular.

What was noteworthy is my fear - or rather lack of fear of being on rope. It didn't occur to me like it has before - that I was on a rope. More importantly, all of the "what ifs" never entered my mind as I climbed. I just climbed as well as I could being half-gimpy. 200 ft, plus a Class 2 walk across the exposed top to the rappel anchors. Not to mention a stupidly exposed rappel over an overhanging edge (for all you non-climbers: it means dangling in space with only the rope while the wall grows increasingly farther away the further you rappel... a most "unnerving" situation, especially when a spin is induced. Nothing can stop the spin.. spin .. spin... spin... )

This is good news and bad news. Obviously it's good b/c it's a sign that my fear of roped climbing is subsiding and it's not completely paralyzing. It's bad bad news b/c I didn't get a chance to nip it away. It has a chance of returning and rearing its ugly head at some point when it's least convenient (Murphy's Law #42: the worst always happens at the worst time).

In other news, I've decided to use the gym facilities and run again. If I can't climb at 100%, at least I can do other stuff to keep my strength from decliing too quickly.