Yesterday I celebrated Independence Day my own way – I climbed Mount Si for the first time. It is about an hour east of Seattle in the Cascades, and is considered one of the more difficult hikes in the State. It’s a 3,700 foot elevation gain over 4 miles – 8 miles round trip (you come down the way you go up). I got up and back down, including a 20-minute rest at the top, in pretty much exactly 4 hours – which is a good time for that trip.

On mile two of the ascent, I started chatting with a guy who asked me how often I climb the mountain. I responded that it was my first trip, and he asked me why I was climbing it today. I told him that it was a training hike for Pike’s Peak,which is at the end of next month (considerably longer, but not nearly as steep). He asked me why I was climbing Pike’s Peak, to which I responded that THAT was a training hike for Kilimanjaro (in Tanzania), which is on the schedule for January. The conversation continued with him asking WHY I was climbing Kili.

My response, “because I can.”

He then began a line of questioning my motivation, including, “are you a cancer survivor,” and a myriad of other questions that implied that no one would do this “for fun.”

I would. It’s going to be expensive and it’s going to be a lot of work and hours of training to get ready. But, the only way to extraordinary results is extraordinary effort. And I want to be extraordinary.