Goal Made!

I got up this morning at 5am and was out the door and on a hike by 5:30am.  My sister and I set a goal to do the guided 8 mile canyon walk this morning. The walk takes you up through a meandering uphill pass through the canyons and the pace is a steady 4.0 miles per hour.  We were due back promptly at 7:30am.  To some of you this might seem an easy task but I am not used to climbing hills and I am definitely not used to climbing mountains so I was pretty much huffing and puffing the entire way.  My sister and I kept squarely in the middle of the pack and we worked hard to not fall back.  The walk was so beautiful and even though it was hard, I loved every step.  There was one spot on the walk that was a straight 1/2 mile uphill.  The guide suggested we circumvent the hill and at that point, I was so tired that I agreed.  As we neared the end of the walk the thought that I only accomplished 7.5 miles really bugged me.  I wanted to meet my goal and I missed it by 1/2 mile.  One of the guides heard me telling my sister how disappointed I was that I didn't meet my goal and he offered to take me on the missing 1/2 mile piece of my goal. He took off at a quick 5.0 mile per hour pace and made me climb a long incline hill so that I could get the full effect of what I missed. It was hard but at the end - such a feeling of accomplishment.  Goal made! 8.0 miles in 2 hours! Check! I feel great!