I’m not the fittest person in the world. I get tired easily and I can barely run a mile without stopping.  That is why when I had to climb a mountain, I was worried.  But that didn’t stop me from having a positive mindset. I told myself that I could make it, and that I can do it. No matter what, I knew I couldn't give up.

I started the hike bright and early with my friend and to my surprise I was doing great. However, after 3 miles of hiking I ran into a problem. I was standing by the 3 mile marker as I looked around to see where the trail was. I didn’t see it. My friend didn’t know where the trail was either. However, she eventually found it. The trail that she found was steeper than the one we had already hiked. I didn’t think much of it at the time because back at base camp, they told us that the trail will eventually get steeper. Little did we know at the time that we were going off the trail completely. We started going up the mountain at a 55-65 degree angle. Now normally that wouldn’t be too bad, but considering that we were at 12,000 feet of altitude, it got hard to breathe really quickly. We eventually got to 12,500 feet and that is when we found the trail again. By going up so fast and not pacing myself, I couldn’t breathe so well. It got especially dreadful when I got to 13,500 feet of altitude. I couldn’t walk without stopping every 5 steps to breathe. I made it to 14,000 feet of altitude, when 2 people walked by. The first person said that I had about 20 minutes before I would get to the top. The only thing that really concerned me was not knowing what she meant by 20 minutes because her 20 minutes of hiking is equivalent to 60 minutes of me hiking. The second person told me something I didn’t expect- I wasn’t going to make it to the top. She said that it was already 1 pm and the bus was picking us up at 6pm. To get to the bus we still had 12 miles and 6,000 feet of altitude to go. That’s when it hit me that I had only done ? of that day's hike.

At that moment I told myself to remember and never forget how I felt physically. How I would stop every 5 steps just to breathe and how I was a little delusional from the altitude. I knew that if I were to ever forget, I would be disappointed in myself even though I had done my best. I made it up to 14,000 feet. Which is already more than most people have ever done in their lifetime. So yes, I did fail at hiking a mountain to the very top. But was I disappointed? In the beginning, yes, I was, but the more I thought about it, the more I had realized that I had done something amazing that day. I challenged myself into doing something I would never believe I would do. That day I learned my physical and mental limits and that is more important to me than making it to the top.