If anyone needs motivation to start working out and becoming a healthier person, my story from yesterday is a good one. Around 5+ years ago, I went to the Cohoes Falls Park to check it out with some friends for the first time. The place is beautiful if you haven’t been there and I think is a great addition to the city. Anyway, we get there and walk around checking out the view of the falls and then notice the staircase that goes down to the lower section. "Hell yea I’m down with getting closer to the falls, let’s do it". We get to the bottom and hang out for a little bit and start heading back. First, there’s a nice winding path that goes up a kind of steep hill and by the time I got to the end of it, I felt like I was going to die. I’ve never felt so out of shape in my life and haven’t been to the gym in a number of years before this so I figured it was normal. I’m also 400+ pounds at that point so it was quite a workout randomly walking a steep hill one day, that was only the start. At the end of the path were the stairs, from the top they didn’t look very steep, but from the bottom, DAMN!! It’s the only way back up so I took a quick breather and had at it. My friends were a lot thinner and lighter than me so I let them go first so I wouldn’t slow them down. I started strong and was doing good, until half way up. My friends were already at the top but kept going thinking I was right behind them. I slowed down because my heart was pounding so hard and fast I seriously thought I was going to have a heart attack. I had really bad chest pains, it felt like the arteries in my arms were going to rip out of my skin, and my teeth even hurt because my blood pressure had to be skyrocketing. I felt like I was going to die right there. At the top, I could see a lady watching me. When I finally got to the top, she asked if I was ok and that she was making sure I made it to the top because my friends kept going without me and she was concerned. All out of breath, I told her I would be fine, at least I got to the top and it’s over.
I haven’t been back to the park since that day I where I felt like I was really going to die because I’m so out of shape. I haven’t gone back because I didn’t want to be with some people and have them see me in that embarrassing condition. Yesterday, I ended up going with my friend, and I told her about what happened and wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to the bottom section. The falls looked amazing and I really wanted to get a closer look. Now I’ve been going to the gym 6 days a week for 2 months. I’ve done nothing but walk on an incline using the treadmill and nothing else. It’s not the most intense workout but hovering around 400 pounds, it’s perfect for now. Anyway, we start heading down the stairs and I’m already regretting doing this because of the memories of the other day. At the bottom, the falls looked amazing and I forgot about the last time I was there and enjoyed the view and the mist from the falls hitting my face. We walked a little checking it out and decided to head back. Now going back a little earlier in the day before we headed to see the falls, we went hiking around Peebles Island Park for almost 2 and a half hours. I was wearing a hoodie because I was replacing the gym that day and taking the hike, so I wanted to get a good sweat going. I was already kind of tired but still really motivated to not sit at home for the rest of the day so we went to see the falls. Now back to the part where we were heading back to the top. From the bottom section of the park, you can see how steep the path and stairs are and now I’m getting kind of worried. I haven’t been here in a long time but I’m in better but not awesome shape. I start up the winding steep path and I could already feel my legs burning half way up, but it wasn’t something I’m not used to at the gym so I kept trucking. Finally get to the top of the path and stand at the bottom of the stairs. They looked steeper than any set of stairs I’ve ever seen and it looked like there were hundreds of them (There’s 85, trust me I counted everyone on my way up). After I took a minute to rest, I said let’s do this to my friend and we started up. About a quarter of the way up I was feeling good, half way up I was tired but I got this, then before I knew it, I was at the top. I think it took me twice the time to get up it 5+ years ago My heart wasn’t pounding, I wasn’t breathing heavy and I’m probably the only 400 pound guy to make it to the top and feel good. At the top when we were walking back, I couldn’t believe I just did something that wasn’t even planned for the day and conquered a fear I had.
Submitted September 30, 2018 at 09:51AM by Riouxb16t https://ift.tt/2zFKz9o
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