Catching Up, Pt. 1

Life has superseded any posting the past few days. I'm finally relaxing as I write this and yet I still feel like I have 10 other things I should be doing.

I'm not really complaining, I think, just sort of justifying my absence here.

I forgot to follow up about the elbow pain I'd noted last Monday. I did end up going to the rock gym on Tuesday night and it felt fine. It's not the climbing that bothers it, so I think I'm safe there. I'm pretty sure that yoga plays a part in it, surprisingly. A certain vinyasa I've been practicing really stresses the triceps, and I see how I could have strained something there. That in combination with close grip pushups and dips could easily be the cause. So I'm easing up on those exercises for a while.

Thursday evening I went back to the rock gym with the goal of passing my lead belay and lead climbing safety tests. Every rock gym requires a demonstration of knowledge and skills related to lead climbing before you're allowed to climb and/or belay any lead routes. I was somewhat apprehensive about the test since I hadn't practiced a whole lot. I ended up doing pretty well, good enough to pass. So now I'm certified.

Immediately after the test I hopped on a route and completed it, struggling somewhat with mostly mental aspects of the new fears involved with leading. Then it was my turn to belay for Dean. I definitely didn't think twice about my capabilities here, and Dean began to make his way up the wall. He had just reached the 3rd draw and he seemed to be having difficulty clipping into it. He looked down at me and gave me the signal that he was going to fall. I braced myself, he dropped, and a second later I felt his weight tugging on the line. I'm not really sure what happened here, but the best I can explain it is that some wires crossed in my head and instead of locking into break position I clasped my left hand around the rope, breaking Dean's fall with my grip. The rope raced through my tightened fist and Dean hit the ground. Not hard, but hard enough to scare me and some others who were close by. Dean was fine, but the rope messed up my hand pretty bad with some nasty burns. More than the burning sensation on my hand, I was hit with the reality of what had just happened.

To be continued...