metromonday (10.25.10)

Eddie's turning out to be a great climbing partner by making me climb routes that I'm uncomfortable with, and being incredibly supportive while I do it. If I keep climbing with him, I think I'm going to get much better quickly.

5.9 purple, "Stemming 101": Tricky route in a chimney that, as its name would suggest, has a lot of stemming.

5.9 orange, "DNA": Route I couldn't finish a few weeks ago but nearly climbed clean this week.

5.11 black: Route I pretended to climb after Eddie climbed it. Got to about the 3rd hold before bailing.

5.10c neon yellow. Made it about halfway up before giving up. Felt pretty good about getting the first move and was amazed it worked out.

5.9 green, "Mantlepiece": In the "Crypt Ticket" corner. Great stemming/mantle-ing route. The trickiest part is the beginning; mantleing upwards from there.

5.10b Black/Pink, "Berry": Would've gotten through this one if I had unlimited time.

Went to Border Cafe afterwards with Christie, Martin, and Eddie.

It's been a long time

It has been a long long time since I posted anything in here. Climbing has happened so much, that I stopped documenting my progress!!!

Ultimately, I kept climbing more or less every Monday until mid-June when Christiane went back to Germany for the summer, and then started back up in late September after my play concluded, and just before she went back to Germany again. In mid-June, I was climbing 5.9s regularly, and did a 5.10a and a 5.10c (both clean, actually). After not climbing for a long time, my skills aren't quite up to speed, but I'm able to do 5.8s and 5.9s without completely blowing.

Metro Monday, the absolute LAST time I'll ever climb with Christiane at MetroRock...
5.8 on main wall
5.9 on short wall
5.8 (blue) on center wall; overhangy, not clean
5.9- pink; couldn't do the final moves

We got in pretty late (8:35), and I wanted Christiane to get a lot of climbs in; we also joked around a lot and didn't take things to seriously.

Afterwards, we went to RedBones with Mike and Jeff, and I bought Christiane a drink and food, because really, after belaying my ass all this time, she deserves it. Mike made us laugh basically nonstop with his stories of Burning Man. Incredible.


Beyond climbing, my athletic abilities have really changed a lot in the months since I've written in this blog. It seems like overnight I've become an endurance athlete. This weekend, I ran 10 miles on Friday, biked 74 miles on Saturday, rock climbed on Sunday, and climbing again today... my body is sore, but happy.

Morning Run

Did a run/walk around the Charles this morning
3.5 mi. route

Ended up running into Semmi Kim, who I haven't seen in about a year. And, I believe the last time I saw her was when I ran into her running on Mass Ave. She's adorable. :-)

On an unrelated note, I bought a basketball, and have spent a few hours already just shooting around at the local court. People in the neighborhood are suuuuuuper nice!

metromonday (03.22.10)

It's been 5 days, so I can't remember the exact routes I did, though I was climbing a lot of 5.9s.

5.8 - red with two overhangs
5.9 back by the bouldering wall.
5.8 - orange, overhangyish one. success!
5.8 - black. really tricky for some reason?
5.9 - crazy split one, lots of fun
5.8 - long one, right at the end, bailed before finishing.

maybe some other stuff.

trying to work on the 5.9s. mehmehmeh!

Surfing roadtrip

Tomorrow morning, I'm going down to DC to meet up with Bryan, a long time friend from middle/high school. We're going on a SURFING ROADTRIP from DC to Florida. And, I don't know how to surf.

More stories/details in the future.

For now, packing list:
- Wetsuit
- Ridiculously cool 80s shades
- Neoprene socks/boots
- Rainjacket :-(
- Undies x8
- Socks x3
- Sandals
- Running shoes
- Bras x2
- Sports Bras x2
- Shorts x2
- Jeans
- Skirt
- Capri army awesome pants
- Long-sleeve shirts x 4
- T-shirt x2
- Short-sleeve shirt x2
- Jacket (wearing)
- Camera & charger
- Kindle & charger
- Cellphone & charger
- Toothbrush/paste/floss
- Shampoo/conditioner/bodywash/hairgel
- Deodorant
- Earrings, of course!!

metromonday (03.08.10)

I failed to post the last time I went to metrorock (02.22.10), and failed to go last week! (03.01.10)

So... here we find ourselves at another juncture.

5.9 - Face. Part of the route-setting contest. Not clean, but practically clean.
5.8 - Route setter contest, orange. Almost on the arrete, but not really.
5.8 - Route setter contest, red. Zigzaggy one; one that I intended to do last time.
5.9 - Route setter contest, yellow. Not clean.
5.9 - Blue, right beside Wet Feet, set on 02.23.10. Couldn't finish it.
5.9 - Route setter contest, red. A little overhangy; didn't finish. This is the second time I've attempted this one... still can't do it.

Biking Running and such

Goddamn, what a beautiful day!!!

Biking: Total of 11 miles, in a few discrete trips: route
Running: 5 miles, walked some. route

metromonday (02.15.10)

cooooooooookies everywhere!!! christianne is a cookie-eating machine, to say the least!!

she secretly ate 6 snickerdoodles at the gym, and i never saw it happen.

5.7+ - short blue one

5.9 - red one (i think?) closest to the chin-up bar. not clean, but managed more or less.

5.8 - new-ish blue one. sucked my way up, but finished. should be easier now that i know the route

hands-free climb. AWESOME.

5.7 - blindfolded

5.7 - yellow one. i wanted to do the zigzaggy red 5.8 on rope 30, but my broken toenail was like "fuck you," so i went down a grade. probably my easiest climbing day in awhile, but fun.

oh metrorock, how i love thee

Snowpocalyse '10 averted, but snow nevertheless

List of things that 5 years ago I thought were impossible:

- Going cycling in a snow storm for an hour, for fun.

Temp: 28 F

w/ windchill: 15 F

Windspeed: 22 mph, gusts at 31 mph

Clothing: Puma boots, gym shorts + goretex pants, blue wicking shirt + blue rain jacket, balaclava, ski goggles. had on mountaineering mitts, but they were too warm, so i mostly just had bare hands. Balaclava also got too warm/difficult to breathe, so had a bare face most of the time.

Route: 12.1 miles

Ok, so only the first 8 miles were from my hourish bike ride. But I wanted to see how much I biked today.

Also, 8 miles/hr is super slow... but with all the snow, and a crazy head wind, pretty hard. :-)

Harvard Stadiums

I've always heard stories of people running stadiums at Harvard Stadium, ie, running up and down the stairs, all around the bowl. Today, I gave it my first go.

Temperature: 23

With wind chill: 13

Apparel: Running tights, wicking shirt, purple fleece, fleece gloves, fleece/acrylic hat with ear flaps.

Route: 3.9 miles

The gates to the Stadium were open, however, I couldn't find easy access to the stairs. I ran around the stadium 1.5 times to find an easy way, but just ended up using my climbing skills to scale the cement wall with the aid of a metal pipe fixture. I ran up and down the stairs, making it about 1/3 of the way around the horseshoe before I needed to catch my breath, then proceeded to finish up the rest of the half. No need to kill myself on my first stadium attempt, right?? Climbed back down, walked a little to cool off, then ran back home and collapsed on my couch for some amount of time.

All in all, a great workout that will definitely be repeated!!!

metromonday (02.01.10)

I realized that I didn't post last Monday night/Tuesday morning. Mostly because we stayed out relatively late at Atwoods (left around 1am), and then after taking people home, I got my 2nd birthday present from Avi!

So, now I don't particularly remember what I climbed...

- 5.9 on the left side of the back wall that was tricky but perfectly suited for my skillset

- 5.8 red, vertical horizons. i think i didn't finish it.

- at least two other 5.8s, maybe some pluses in there.

Also, we didn't get there until about 8, due to Christianne being late and then me being late. It's all good!!!

Winter School, Week 3

It's the third weekend of Winter School 2010, and I finally did a trip worth writing up in this exercise blog!!!

We hiked up to Kinsman pond, which is a

metromonday (01.25.10)

Christianne and I were feeling kind of bleh for various reasons, so we took it relatively easy. I successfully climbed very few routes.

5.8+ white on the back wall. Didn't finish.

5.8- pink, love.

5.8+ pink, looking for a knubbin.

5.8 white, new one to left of crypt ticket.

5.8 black, new one to right of crypt ticket.

5.8 white, easy one on back of middle wall.

5.8 pink, new on on left wall. Didn't finish.

I timed this to see what my total time would be for getfit purposes. About 30 minutes of actual climbing, in exchange for about 1.5 hours of being at metrorock. Interesting trade off.

Pull-up is amazingly close now. I'm amazed at this!!!

metromonday (01.18.10)

I can't believe I've been climbing once a week for three months now. Seems like I'm not really getting too much better... and I'm not too sure that'll change with this once a week plan. But no matter! Still fun. Climbed with Brendan, Christianne, and some random guy name Elipe.

5.8 pink love one that used to be a 5.9-
5.8+ new white one that I couldn't do last week. Wasn't clean, but still happened.
5.8+ pink one
5.9- short green one by back wall. Attempted and failed.
5.8 yellow. One that I climbed with Alice a few weeks ago. Made it up, but shoddily.
5.8 green, slightly overhangy. Slow and ugly, but climbed it.
5.7+ yellow in back corner. When I couldn't climb this clean, I knew twas time to stop. :-)

I also attempted two v0 bouldering routes, did a few almost pull-ups and chinups.

metromonday (01.11.10)

Sicksicksick, but still went to metro because... well... maybe it helps? (It didn't help. I haven't been able to get out of bed yet, or even sit up. Or think. Ugh.)

Arrived around 7:15 with Christianne, climbed more or less until close.

5.8 blue KoopaTroopaBeach. A really weird climb, fun. Didn't climb clean. Forearms hurt already, a remnant from ice climbing, no doubt.

5.8+ brand new pink one, long, near main entrance. Just the perfect kind of climb for me. Only messed up toward the end while reaching for a hand hold that was not a hand hold at all. Go straight up!

5.8 green. short route; one that Alice and I failed on before. Climbed cleanly.

5.8- pink. The one towards the back with lots of little handholds. Climbed cleanly.

5.9- white. The Filter is Broken (near the 5.8 pink love one). Sucked at it, but Christianne belayed me up the wall. Sigh.

5.8 red arret. Couldn't figure out the end... whaaaaat?

5.8+ new white one toward back right corner. Made it about halfway up, but couldn't survive the 2nd overhang.

Christianne successfully climbed 5.10a, 5.10b, and gave a 5.11a a run for it's money.

End-of-day-pull-up-attempt getting closer...