Streaker Social & Rope course

 A few weeks ago, Peter reached out to me and asked if I would come over to Streaker Social that he was having. A number of runners in his Streaker challenge program had either completed 1000 consecutive days or were to reach this huge achievement on this day. 

What else could I say to him but yes. Peter and I have been friends for many years, and I often referred to him as the Pied Piper of running. Runners follow him and why not. He keeps running interesting, and after years of running, I need things to keep me interested. I have often driven to over to Albemarle to run his races over races here in Charlotte. 

Beside, getting to hang out with some fellow streakers is awesome. These men and women get what it means to put on their running shoes and go out the door every day. I have major respect for all of them. 

But what I want to talk about here is the presocial activities. Peter had setup for us to do the Carolina Treetop Challenge rope course. When he asked me if I wanted to participate, I said sure with out thinking. Then, when I got his email, I clicked on the link for more details. Suddenly, I realized what I gotten myself into. 

Never one to back away from a challenge, I pulled on my climbing kit that they gave me. The instructor went over how things works, and pointed us to the start of the course. 

To get into the course, we had to hook in to this pully rope before we could climb the ladder. Hooking in was easy. Then, I started to climb when I quickly figured out that the rope was countered balanced. If I happen to fall of the ladder, the pully keeps me from just flying down the ladder. However, by being counter balanced, I have to drag both my body weight and the counter balance to go up the ladder. It took a bit of adjustment. Once in to the course, it was a blast. There were some easy obstacle but there where some hard obstacles. At one point, I was on this climbing wall. The knobs were so small that my shoes kept slipping off. I found myself hanging by fingers. I hung on until I could get my feet back under me. 

At the start, the instructor had asked if anyone of us needed gloves. Of course, no one said yes. I realized about 1/2 way through that my hands were hurting. A pair of gloves would have been nice to have. 

I finished the course and headed back to the social. Few of the others did the entire the course. I wanted to do all of it. I don't like leaving things half done. 

Sunday came and went. Monday came, and under my arms and my shoulders were hurting. Anytime time that I raised my arms over my head, I felt it. 

At the same time, I loved it. 

If you are interested in checking it out, click here. You can get all of the details. 

Tails from the tree tops, 

The Cool Down Runner