Smashing my 2022 vert goal

I love setting personal challenges. So I set a BIG scary elevation (vert) goal for 2022. I gave myself 12 months to reach 100,000 metres elevation gain by running or hiking.

To make it even more fun and to have some accountability, I created a vert challenge on Strava. I invited a bunch of Strava friends to join in their own personal vert quest. We watched our progress on the leaderboard and offered some light jabbing online.

All the fun.

I reached my goal a few days ago on a random run in Radium. I expected to hit the big 100,000 on a mountain but it was fitting to just be out on a solo run in a mountain town. Gosh it feels great to meet a goal. I am thankful of all the trail friends who shared summits with me over the last year.

I don’t even know how to explain it. There’s no feeling like being on top of a mountain especially after the sweat and heart pumping to reach the peak. It’s funny because I grew up next to the Atlantic ocean. You would think I would not be inclined to climb big things.

The truth is – I absolutely love the feeling of accomplishment and calm – taking one step at a time to reach a summit. It’s so peaceful. Everything that stresses me or holds me down is immediately gone once I reach those final metres.

We take delight in overcoming obstacles and reaching new heights. I am so fortunate to have the physical and mental ability to climb these peaks. It also helps that I live so close to the mountains!

Every single mountain I climbed this year taught me something. Whether I was hurting or I felt fantastic, there was always something that I learned or discovered. Nothing beats the fresh mountain air. As they say, the journey can be tough but at the end of the day you may end up wanting more.

Here’s to more peaks in 2023.

Have you ever set a vert goal? How did it go? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.

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