In New Hampshire there is a mountain trail that we used to call Idiot’s Alley. It was maybe 2-2.3 miles long, but in that distance you rose maybe 4000 feet. So, it was steep.
As a man in my 20’s, with no real amount of training, I have climbed up that trail several times, each time it took several hours to climb, but getting to the top, making camp, looking out over the White Mountains, sweaty and hot. It was beautiful.
No big deal. Sweaty, yes. Tired, yes. Sore, limping for days afterward, in pain all over my body, shoulders, back, legs, feet? No.
Today I am not even a pale shadow of that man that I was then.
Back then I was probably more of an ass than I am now... maybe the same amount but in different ways, you tell me.
But today, when I awaken in the middle of the night with pains all over from simply sleeping wrong, and this happens every night and lasts for days or weeks, limping is almost constant.
I may walk, seeing a new sight with my lady love beside me these days. On flat terrain, for not very far, and still, that lead to days of pain. Days of limping. I still want to go, want to see, want to enjoy, but each time leads to another bought of pain.
Maybe better walking shoes?
I think how cruel aging is. Sure, it beats the alternative.
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